Best Sheldon Cooper quotes of all time

Love him or hate him, Sheldon Cooper certainly has a unique way with words – here are his best quotes from Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory.

Viewers might have watched the 2007 sitcom The Big Bang Theory and wondered how Sheldon Cooper turned out to be so… himself. The answer? He’s been like that since the word go, which fans have enjoyed thanks to Young Sheldon.

Regardless of his age, Sheldon has always been an authentic comedy character, from trying to order uranium and being chased down by the FBI to learning to true meaning of the word “coitus.”

Now that Young Sheldon is drawing to a close with Season 7, there’s truly no better time to reflect in the name of science – here are the very best Sheldon Cooper quotes from both of his hit shows.

Best Sheldon Cooper quotes of all time

Okay okay, we hear you. There are so many iconic lines from Mr. Cooper that they are never going to fit into one comprehensive list. With that in mind, we’ve shortlisted the top five from each show – The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon – in our ranking, with a surprise or two thrown in along the way.

10. “Robert Oppenheimer was lonely.”

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As famous Oppenheimer and Christopher Nolan stans, we had to include this iconic line from TBBT. Back in Season 4, Sheldon gets his first cat, who he quickly names Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer – as one does, after the man who invented the atomic bomb. When Leonard arrives home one day to an apartment filled with cats, Sheldon claims it’s because feline Oppie needed some company… or Oppenhomies, if you will. We’re not sure this is exactly what the father of the atomic bomb had in mind, but it’s unforgettable nonetheless.

9. “Age is a state of mind, Leonard. In here, I’m 90.”

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Let’s be real – Sheldon has been an old man since he emerged from the womb. After Leonard questions why Sheldon buys a pill caddie, Sheldon gifts him with this eloquent yet biting response. Leonard regards Sheldon as a “young man,” but how truthful is this? If his bowtie on the first day of high school was anything to go by, that label isn’t exactly a great fit.

8. “I’m only nine years old. Most evil doesn’t start until puberty.”

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Back in his incredibly early days on screen, Sheldon is confronted with the possibility of being evil almost immediately. Starting ninth grade as a nine year old, it’s not surprising that many of his peers were quickly suspicious of him – not to mention his teachers once Sheldon routinely calls them out on their practices. Thankfully, science comes to the rescue, with Sheldon citing that most evil tendencies don’t tend to show themselves until after puberty.

7. “Nothing, I just really didn’t want to come.”

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Sheldon doesn’t say too many relatable things, but this quote is amongst the best of the handful. He’s certainly not at home at a bar, and only came around to pubs when he realized he could spend the entire time there teaching others about the history of Yorkshire. So when Howard and Leonard get there first, there’s only one logical response for Sheldon to come out with.

6. “So, I’m ahead of my time? All right, call me when you catch up.”

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The ultimate takedown of intellectual takedowns was back in Young Sheldon Season 1, when an egghead from NASA decided to pay a visit to Medford High. Shutting Sheldon up by giving him an iron-on patch, Sheldon decides he must get revenge by proving him wrong. Making his parents drive him all the way to NASA’s base. Sheldon barges in and introduces the egghead to groundbreaking new physics. In a flash forward, we see Elon Musk taking Sheldon’s ideas in 2016.

5. “Hard as this may be to believe, it’s possible that I’m not boyfriend material.”

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In fact, dear reader, Sheldon did end up being boyfriend material. After first having a crush in Medford High, many fans thought he was going to end up with fellow brainiac Paige – though that never happened. In The Big Bang Theory, he ends up with Amy, although the road to a healthy relationship was a hard-won battle. In hindsight, this quote is so well loved that it’s been put on T-shirts and jumpers, while Sheldon learned that digital alcohol was never the solution.

4. “I graduated college at 14. While my brother was getting an STD, I was getting a Ph.D. Penicillin can’t take this away.”

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During Young Sheldon, it’s incredibly apparently that Georgie and Sheldon are total opposites – but it’s not until The Big Bang Theory that we realize just how many differences there actually were. During one episode, Sheldon recounts graduating college at at 14, at the same time Georgie was engaging in more unsavory behavior. During Season 1 of Young Sheldon, the middle Cooper child also recounts that Georgie went on to marry his first wife at 19.

3. “Look at my face, tell me what you see.” “That you’re old.”

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Many Young Sheldon fans can agree that Meemaw is one of the most iconic and humorous characters throughout both of the shows that Sheldon appears in, with Annie Potts playing her in the prequel and June Squibb in the main series. When Sheldon is still a child, his infantile tendencies combined with his need to always be direct result in some hilarious one-liners, including telling Meemaw she’s old during a game of poker.

2. “I’m having a hard time adjusting to Earth.”

One of Sheldon’s biggest problems in Season 1 of Young Sheldon is Mary’s concern that he isn’t making enough friends. To soothe her nerves, Sheldon rents a book from the library to try and learn the mechanics behind winning people over. When the librarian asks if he’s struggling to adjust to school, he responds by saying he’s struggling to adjust to Earth. Books might not solve everything, but amen to that.

“Bazinga!”

CBS

Gotcha! We’re bazinga-ing bazinga in this list by throwing it in as the ultimate honorable mention. It’s a word used by Sheldon to signal that what he said immediately before is to be taken as a joke, later becoming his catchphrase. It’s introduced back in the Season 2 finale of TBBT, though instances of bazinga later on in the show have since been debated.

1. “I’m not crazy. My mother had me tested.”

CBS

As the only line to appear in both TBBT and Young Sheldon, this has to take the number one spot in our best Sheldon Cooper quotes list. This one line completely sums up everything that makes our main character who he is, as well as highlighting the one person who never looked at him any differently – even if he did quarantine off a section of the house for contamination purposes. In fact, fans love this line so much that it’s even got its own compilation video on YouTube.