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Science is all metaphor.

Science always uses metaphor.

Scientists have to have a metaphor. All scientists start with imagination.

The problems of language here are really serious. We wish to speak in some way about the structure of the atoms. But we cannot speak about atoms in ordinary language.

I think there's a certain lyricism in the telling of a scientific story.

If I'm writing, I'll say something metaphorical or approximate, whereas scientists are very precise.

Language should find itself in the physical world, and not end up locked in an idea in somebody's head.

When it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images.

The language of chemistry simply does not mesh with that of biology. Chemistry is about substances and how they react, whereas biology appeals to concepts such as information and organisation. Informational narratives permeate biology.

Genes are like the story, and DNA is the language that the story is written in.