For nearly 12 seasons now, Jim Parsons has starred on CBS's beloved sitcom The Big Bang Theory as Dr. Sheldon Cooper, a genius and incredibly eccentric theoretical physicist. Parsons' work as Sheldon has earned him countless awards and even more nominations - and when you look at some of the work he's turned in over the years, especially in the early seasons when Sheldon was at his quirkiest, it's not hard to see why.

While it could be easy to make the case that The Big Bang Theory was, at least at one point, intended to be Leonard's show, it's pretty plain to see that the series became Sheldon's show a long time ago - which was definitely a marked change for the better. Sheldon's peculiar and specific routines, obsessive interests in all things science and science fiction, and often oblivious social behaviors have all been perfectly woven together to create a character who became an instant pop culture icon.

And all of that before we even take into consideration hos many hilarious quotes Sheldon has had over the years. Below, we look back at ten of the best of them.

10 "Penny, while I subscribe to the Many Worlds Theory..."

"which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes - I assure you that in none of them am I dancing."

An unmistakable highlight of the series' earlier seasons was the back and forth rapport between Sheldon and Kaley Cuoco's Penny, Sheldon and Leonard's adorably dimwitted neighbor and Leonard's on and off love interest. One hilarious season three episode opens with Sheldon waking up in the morning to find a barely dressed Penny making pancakes and dancing around the kitchen to Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like A Woman."

Penny, clearly relishing in Sheldon's confuse, invites him to dance along with her - which leads us to the hilarious moment quoted above. Sheldon may not think of himself as much of a social animal, and he very well may be right about that. But that doesn't make any of his social interactions any less amusing for us viewers.

9 "I think that you have as much of a chance of having a sexual relationship with Penny..."

"as the Hubble Telescope does of discovering that at the center of every black hole there is a little man with a flashlight searching for a circuit breaker."

From the very beginning of the series, Sheldon was a big naysayer of the prospect of a relationship between Cuoco's Penny and Johnny Galecki's Leonard. Of course, as this is a situation comedy, it was also immediately clear from the moment these characters met that Leonard and Penny would become the series' central will they, won't they relationship.

But that didn't stop Sheldon from offering his honest - and, usually, brutally honest - thoughts about the possibility of their eventual coupling. And most of the time, the totally scathing remarks were paired with wonderfully nerdy scientific jokes, such as this amazing one about the Hubble Telescope and black holes.