Jane Hawking

“I was born in Norwich, which I still regard as the most beautiful city in the world, despite the attempts by the Luftwaffe to destroy it in the Second World War.”

“The goddess Physics was Stephen's idol. I was not jealous of her, but she did give me some cause for concern.”

“I loved Stephen so much that nothing could deter me from wanting to marry him.”

“We would look up at the night sky together, and although Stephen wasn't actually very good at detecting constellations, he would tell me about the expanding universe and the possibility of it contracting again and describe a star collapsing in on itself to form a black hole in a way that was quite easy to understand.”

“After the success of Stephen's book, a whole new crowd of people became very interested in him, and the family was just pushed into a corner.”

“Just because you can no longer have a physical relationship with someone doesn't mean you don't love them.”

“That the Hawkings were eccentric, even odd, was well known. That they were aloof, convinced of their own intellectual superiority over the rest of the human race, was also widely recognized in St. Albans, where they were regarded with a suspicion and awe.”

“The carer of the disabled person is always in the background. People don't want to hear about the sleaze and the nitty-gritty and the hardship.”

“My generation of women was the last for whom marriage and a family were the goal.”

“The family and Stephen were my reason for being. Without that, I felt I was nothing.”

“I was very anxious that Stephen should have every opportunity to fulfil himself.”

“To me, Stephen was my husband and the father of my children; one does not say to one's husband, 'Oh, you're so clever! I must worship the ground under your feet, or in this case, wheels.'”

“Of course I don't think any of the past will go away. The thing is, with me and Stephen, for many years, I put every spoon of food into his mouth, dressed him, and bathed him. You do not forget that experience.”

“I was always extremely determined, but I was also quite timid.”

“In the early days of our marriage, Stephen could walk around Cambridge on my arm - a stick on one hand, leaning on me with the other. I carried a baby on one arm and Stephen on the other.”

“The tension between Stephen's atheistic stance and my faith always existed, but neither of us tried to convert the other. I am not evangelical.”

“In a sense, I am achieving what I set out to do - to devote myself to Stephen, to give him the chance of fulfilling his genius. But what have I become in the process? Who am I? What is there left of me? I am beginning to doubt my own identity.”

“When Stephen was first diagnosed, we weren't actually going out together, but I was already falling in love with him. He had beautiful eyes and this amazing sense of humour, so we were always laughing.”

“As Stephen's fame began to take off in a big way, and because he was so immersed in physics, it was becoming more and more difficult to communicate with him.”

“Although a linguist, I was always interested in, and fascinated by, Stephen's explanations of his work and proud of his discoveries and achievements.”