Top quotes by Richard P. Feynman

Trying to understand the way nature works involves a most terrible test of human reasoning ability. It involves subtle trickery, beautiful tightropes of logic on which one has to walk in order not to make a mistake in predicting what will happen. The quantum mechanical and the relativity ideas are examples of this. Votes: 33

It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man. Votes: 25

When I was about thirteen, the library was going to get 'Calculus for the Practical Man.' By this time I knew, from reading the encyclopedia, that calculus was an important and interesting subject, and I ought to learn it. Votes: 22

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars - mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? Votes: 21

The drawing teacher has this problem of communicating how to draw by osmosis and not by instruction, while the physics teacher has the problem of always teaching techniques, rather than the spirit, of how to go about solving physical problems. Votes: 20

I was terrible in English. I couldn't stand the subject. It seemed to me ridiculous to worry about whether you spelled something wrong or not, because English spelling is just a human convention - it has nothing to do with anything real, anything from nature. Votes: 16

I thought one should have the attitude of 'What do you care what other people think!' Votes: 15

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. Votes: 14

Einstein's gravitational theory, which is said to be the greatest single achievement of theoretical physics, resulted in beautiful relations connecting gravitational phenomena with the geometry of space; this was an exciting idea. Votes: 14

We get the exciting result that the total energy of the universe is zero. Why this should be so is one of the great mysteries - and therefore one of the important questions of physics. After all, what would be the use of studying physics if the mysteries were not the most important things to investigate? Votes: 12

Europeans are much more serious than we are in America because they think that a good place to discuss intellectual matters is a beer party. Votes: 10

People are always asking for the latest developments in the unification of this theory with that theory, and they don't give us a chance to tell them anything about one of the theories that we know pretty well. They always want to know things that we don't know. Votes: 9

The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another. Votes: 9

Scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in uncertainty, but they appear to be so deep and so impressive that the theory that it is all arranged as a stage for God to watch man's struggle for good and evil seems inadequate. Votes: 9

It's the way I study - to understand something by trying to work it out or, in other words, to understand something by creating it. Not creating it one hundred percent, of course; but taking a hint as to which direction to go but not remembering the details. These you work out for yourself. Votes: 9

I don't know what's the matter with people: they don't learn by understanding; they learn by some other way - by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile! Votes: 9

All the evidence, experimental and even a little theoretical, seems to indicate that it is the energy content which is involved in gravitation, and therefore, since matter and antimatter both represent positive energies, gravitation makes no distinction. Votes: 8

Is science of any value? I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the power is a value. Votes: 7

In the Raphael Room, the secret turned out to be that only some of the paintings were made by the great master; the rest were made by students. I had liked the ones by Raphael. This was a big jab for my self-confidence in my ability to appreciate art. Votes: 6

From the point of view of basic physics, the most interesting phenomena are, of course, in the new places, the places where the rules do not work - not the places where they do work! That is the way in which we discover new rules. Votes: 6

The first amazing fact about gravitation is that the ratio of inertial mass to gravitational mass is constant wherever we have checked it. The second amazing thing about gravitation is how weak it is. Votes: 6

See that the imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man. Votes: 6

What goes on inside a star is better understood than one might guess from the difficulty of having to look at a little dot of light through a telescope, because we can calculate what the atoms in the stars should do in most circumstances. Votes: 4

In talking about the impact of ideas in one field on ideas in another field, one is always apt to make a fool of oneself. Votes: 4

The most obvious characteristic of science is its application: the fact that, as a consequence of science, one has a power to do things. And the effect this power has had need hardly be mentioned. The whole industrial revolution would almost have been impossible without the development of science. Votes: 3

Because the theory of quantum mechanics could explain all of chemistry and the various properties of substances, it was a tremendous success. But still there was the problem of the interaction of light and matter. Votes: 3

The fact that the colors in the flower have evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; that means insects can see the colors. That adds a question: does this aesthetic sense we have also exist in lower forms of life? Votes: 2

I've always been very one-sided about science, and when I was younger, I concentrated almost all my effort on it. Votes: 2

I think that when we know that we actually do live in uncertainty, then we ought to admit it; it is of great value to realize that we do not know the answers to different questions. This attitude of mind - this attitude of uncertainty - is vital to the scientist, and it is this attitude of mind which the student must first acquire. Votes: 1

I got a fancy reputation. During high school, every puzzle that was known to man must have come to me. Every damn, crazy conundrum that people had invented, I knew. Votes: 1

Things on a very small scale behave like nothing that you have any direct experience about. They do not behave like waves, they do not behave like particles, they do not behave like clouds, or billiard balls, or weights on springs, or like anything that you have ever seen. Votes: 0

Working out another system to replace Newton's laws took a long time because phenomena at the atomic level were quite strange. One had to lose one's common sense in order to perceive what was happening at the atomic level. Votes: 0

It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong. Votes: 0

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there. Votes: 0

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy. Votes: 0

You're unlikely to discover something new without a lot of practice on old stuff, but further, you should get a heck of a lot of fun out of working out funny relations and interesting things. Votes: 0

We do not know what the rules of the game are; all we are allowed to do is to watch the playing. Of course, if we watch long enough, we may eventually catch on to a few of the rules. The rules of the game are what we mean by fundamental physics. Votes: 0

I want to marry Arline because I love her - which means I want to take care of her. That is all there is to it. I want to take care of her. I am anxious for the responsibilities and uncertainties of taking care of the girl I love. Votes: 0

If you realize all the time what's kind of wonderful - that is, if we expand our experience into wilder and wilder regions of experience - every once in a while, we have these integrations when everything's pulled together into a unification, in which it turns out to be simpler than it looked before. Votes: 0

I love to think. I once considered taking drugs as an attempt to better understand an altered state of mind; however, I decided not to. I didn't want to chance ruining the machine. Votes: 0

From a long view of the history of mankind, seen from, say, ten thousand years from now, there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will pale into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade. Votes: 0

I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe. Votes: 0

If all of this, all the life of a stream of water, can be nothing but a pile of atoms, how much more is possible? Votes: 0

If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize. Votes: 0

It is odd, but on the infrequent occasions when I have been called upon in a formal place to play the bongo drums, the introducer never seems to find it necessary to mention that I also do theoretical physics. Votes: 0

Ordinary fools are all right; you can talk to them, and try to help them out. But pompous fools-guys who are fools and are covering it all over and impressing people as to how wonderful they are with all this hocus pocus-THAT, I CANNOT STAND! An ordinary fool isn't a faker; an honest fool is all right. But a dishonest fool is terrible! Votes: 0

During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such as that a piece of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. Then a method was discovered for separating the ideas - which was to try one to see if it worked, and if it didn't work, to eliminate it. This method became organized, of course, into science. Votes: 0

If you thought you were trying to find out more about it because you're gonna get an answer to some deep philosophical question...you may be wrong! It may be that you can't get an answer to that particular question by finding out more about the character of nature. But my interest in science is to simply find out about the world. Votes: 0

So, ultimately, in order to understand nature it may be necessary to have a deeper understanding of mathematical relationships. But the real reason is that the subject is enjoyable, and although we humans cut nature up in different ways, and we have different courses in different departments, such compartmentaliz ation is really artificial, and we should take our intellectual pleasures where we find them. Votes: 0

Once we were driving in the midwest and we pulled into a McDonald's. Someone came up to me and asked me why I have Feynman diagrams all over my van. I replied, "Because I am Feynman!" The young man went, "Ahhhhh!" Votes: 0

We are very lucky to be living in an age in which we are still making discoveries. It is like the discovery of America-you only discover it once. The age in which we live is the age in which we are discovering the fundamental laws of nature, and that day will never come again. It is very exciting, it is marvelous, but this excitement will have to go. Votes: 0

What Do You Care What Other People Think? Votes: 0

If I say [electrons] behave like particles I give the wrong impression; also if I say they behave like waves. They behave in their own inimitable way, which technically could be called a quantum mechanical way. They behave in a way that is like nothing that you have seen before. Votes: 0

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. Votes: 0

Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry. Votes: 0

Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves. Votes: 0

What I am going to tell you about is what we teach our physics students in the third or fourth year of graduate school... It is my task to convince you not to turn away because you don't understand it. You see my physics students don't understand it... That is because I don't understand it. Nobody does. Votes: 0

It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the great progress which comes from a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress which is the fruit of freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom; to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed and discussed; and to demand this freedom as our duty to all coming generations. Votes: 0

There in wine is found the great generalization: all life is fermentation. Votes: 0

People are always asking for the latest developments in the unification of this theory with that theory, and they don't give us a chance to tell them anything about what we know pretty well. They always want to know the things we don't know. Votes: 0

Ordinarily it would take me about fifteen minutes to get a hallucination going," wrote Feynman, "but on a few occasions, when I smoked some marijuana beforehand, it came very quickly. Votes: 0

You see, the chemists have a complicated way of counting: instead of saying "one, two, three, four, five protons", they say, "hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron." Votes: 0

I learned from her that every woman is worried about her looks, no matter how beautiful she is. Votes: 0

The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion. Votes: 0

For those who want some proof that physicists are human, the proof is in the idiocy of all the different units which they use for measuring energy. Votes: 0

Only realistic flight schedules should be proposed, schedules that have a reasonable chance of being met. If in this way the government would not support them, then so be it. NASA owes it to the citizens from whom it asks support to be frank, honest, and informative. Votes: 0

You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It's their mistake, not my failing. Votes: 0

Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible. Votes: 0

I have to keep going to find out ultimately what is the matter with it in the end. Votes: 0

I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell. Possibly. It doesn't frighten me. Votes: 0

You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things... It doesn't frighten me. Votes: 0

Computer science is not as old as physics; it lags by a couple of hundred years. However, this does not mean that there is significantly less on the computer scientist's plate than on the physicist's: younger it may be, but it has had a far more intense upbringing! Votes: 0

There is nothing that living things do that cannot be understood from the point of view that they are made of atoms acting according to the laws of physics. Votes: 0

Today's brains are yesterday's mashed potatoes. Votes: 0

Physics is to math what sex is to masturbation. Votes: 0

I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics. Votes: 0

If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics. Votes: 0

For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent? Votes: 0

The thing that doesn't fit is the thing that is most interesting. Votes: 0

To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature ... If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in. Votes: 0

No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it. Votes: 0

Have no respect whatsoever for authority; forget who said it and instead look what he starts with, where he ends up, and ask yourself, "Is it reasonable?" Votes: 0

I am going to tell you what nature behaves like. If you will simply admit that maybe she does behave like this, you will find her a delightful, entrancing thing. Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, 'But how can it be like that?' ...Nobody knows how it can be like that. Votes: 0

I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. Votes: 0

In any organization there ought to be the possibility of discussion... fence sitting is an art, and it's difficult, and it's important to do, rather than to go headlong in one direction or the other. It's just better to have action, isn't it than to sit on the fence? Not if you're not sure which way to go, it isn't. Votes: 0

Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds. Votes: 0

There is one simplification at least. Electrons behave ... in exactly the same way as photons; they are both screwy, but in exactly in the same way... Votes: 0

Light is something like raindrops each little lump of light is called a photon and if the light is all one color, all the "raindrops" are the same. Votes: 0

When a photon comes down, it interacts with electrons throughout the glass, not just on the surface. The photon and electrons do some kind of dance, the net result of which is the same as if the photon hit only on the surface. Votes: 0

Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it. Votes: 0

There's plenty of room at the bottom. Votes: 0

There was a time when the newspapers said that only twelve men understood the theory of relativity. I do not believe there ever was such a time ... On the other hand, I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. Votes: 0

Nature isn't classical, dammit, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you'd better make it quantum mechanical, and by golly it's a wonderful problem, because it doesn't look so easy. Votes: 0

[Quantum mechanics] describes nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And yet it fully agrees with experiment. So I hope you can accept nature as She is - absurd. Votes: 0

Another of the qualities of science is that it teaches the value of rational thought, as well as the importance of freedom of thought; the positive results that come from doubting that all the lessons are true... Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. Votes: 0

[When a young person loses faith in his religion because he begins to study science and its methodology] it isn't that [through the obtaining of real knowledge that] he knows it all, but he suddenly realizes that he doesn't know it all. Votes: 0

Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Votes: 0

Science is the organized skepticism in the reliability of expert opinion Votes: 0

When I tried to show him how an electromagnet works by making a little coil of wire and hanging a nail on a piece of string, I put the voltage on, the nail swung into the coil, and Jerry said, Ooh! It's just like fucking! Votes: 0

I was a very shy character, always feeling uncomfortable because everybody was stronger than I, and always afraid I would look like a sissy. Everybody else played baseball; everybody else did all kinds of athletic things. Votes: 0

When I found out that Santa Claus wasn't real, I wasn't upset; rather, I was relieved that there was a much simpler phenomenon to explain how so many children all over the world got presents on the same night! The story had been getting pretty complicated -- it was getting out of hand. Votes: 0

If you thought that science was certain - well, that is just an error on your part. Votes: 0

Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty -- some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely certain. Votes: 0

Scientists are explorers. Philosophers are tourists. Votes: 0

I practiced drawing all the time and became very interested in it. If I was at a meeting that wasn't getting anywhere - like the one where Carl Rogers came to Caltech to discuss with us whether Caltech should develop a psychology department - I would draw the other people. Votes: 0

From a long view of the history of mankind the most significant event of the nineteenth century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. Votes: 0

I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring. Votes: 0

It has not yet become obvious to me that there's no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem. Votes: 0

The universe is very large, and its boundaries are not known very well, but it is still possible to define some kind of a radius to be associated with it. Votes: 0

Once I get on a puzzle, I can't get off. Votes: 0

Often one postulates that a priori, all states are equally probable. This is not true in the world as we see it. This world is not correctly described by the physics which assumes this postulate. Votes: 0

What do I advise? Forget it all. Don't be afraid. Do what you get the most pleasure from. Is it to build a cloud chamber? Then go on doing things like that. Develop your talents wherever they may lead. Damn the torpedoes - full speed ahead!If you have any talent,or any occupation that delights you,do it, and do it to the hilt Votes: 0

The correct statement of the laws of physics involves some very unfamiliar ideas which require advanced mathematics for their description. Therefore, one needs a considerable amount of preparatory training even to learn what the words mean. Votes: 0

The idea that no one really knew how to run a government led to the idea that we should arrange a system by which new ideas could be developed, tried out, and tossed out if necessary, with more new ideas brought in - a trial and error system. Votes: 0

There were several possible solutions of the difficulty of classical electrodynamics, any one of which might serve as a good starting point to the solution of the difficulties of quantum electrodynamics. Votes: 0

Turbulence is the most important unsolved problem of classical physics. Votes: 0

When a Caltech student asked the eminent cosmologist Michael Turner what his "bias" was in favoring one or another particle as a likely candidate to compromise dark matter in the universe, Feynmann snapped, "Why do you want to know his bias? Form your own bias!" Votes: 0

The scale of light can be described by numbers called the frequency and as the numbers get higher, the light goes from red to blue to ultraviolet. We can't see ultraviolet light, but it can affect photographic plates. It's still light only the number is different. Votes: 0

We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on. Votes: 0

Our freedom to doubt was born out of a struggle against authority in the early days of science. It was a very deep and strong struggle: permit us to question - to doubt - to not be sure. I think that it is important that we do not forget this struggle and thus perhaps lose what we have gained. Votes: 0

[John] von Neumann gave me an interesting idea: that you don't have to be responsible for the world that you're in. So I have developed a very powerful sense of social irresponsibility as a result of von Neumann's advice. It's made me a very happy man ever since. But it was von Neumann who put the seed in that grew into my active irresponsibility! Votes: 0

A poet once said, "The whole universe is in a glass of wine." We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to be understood. But it is true that if we look at a glass of wine closely enough we see the entire universe. Votes: 0

Today, all physicists know from studying Einstein and Bohr that sometimes an idea which looks completely paradoxical at first, if analyzed to completion in all detail and in experimental situations, may, in fact, not be paradoxical. Votes: 0

Perhaps one day we will have machines that can cope with approximate task descriptions, but in the meantime, we have to be very prissy about how we tell computers to do things. Votes: 0

Each piece, or part, of the whole of nature is always merely an approximation to the complete truth, or the complete truth so far as we know it. In fact, everything we know is only some kind of approximation because we know that we do not know all the laws as yet. Votes: 0

The most remarkable discovery in all of astronomy is that the stars are made of atoms of the same kind as those on the earth. Votes: 0

If we have an atom that is in an excited state and so is going to emit a photon, we cannot say when it will emit the photon. It has a certain amplitude to emit the photon at any time, and we can predict only a probability for emission; we cannot predict the future exactly. Votes: 0

People often think I'm a faker, but I'm usually honest, in a certain way - in such a way that often nobody believes me! Votes: 0

I got a signed document from Bullock's saying that they had such-and-such drawings on consignment. Of course, nobody bought any of them, but otherwise, I was a big success: I had my drawings on sale at Bullock's! Votes: 0

I don't believe in honors - it bothers me. Honors bother: honors is epaulettes; honors is uniforms. My papa brought me up this way. Votes: 0

We're always, by the way, in fundamental physics, always trying to investigate those things in which we don't understand the conclusions. After we've checked them enough, we're okay. Votes: 0

With the exception of gravitation and radioactivity, all of the phenomena known to physicists and chemists in 1911 have their ultimate explanation in the laws of quantum electrodynamics. Votes: 0

There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them! Votes: 0

When I was a young man, Dirac was my hero. He made a breakthrough, a new method of doing physics. He had the courage to simply guess at the form of an equation, the equation we now call the Dirac equation, and to try to interpret it afterwards. Votes: 0

Investigating the forces that hold the nuclear particles together was a long task. Votes: 0

Once you have a computer that can do a few things - strictly speaking, one that has a certain 'sufficient set' of basic procedures - it can do basically anything any other computer can do. This, loosely, is the basis of the great principle of 'Universality'. Votes: 0

It is a curious historical fact that modern quantum mechanics began with two quite different mathematical formulations: the differential equation of Schroedinger and the matrix algebra of Heisenberg. The two apparently dissimilar approaches were proved to be mathematically equivalent. Votes: 0

When I would hear the rabbi tell about some miracle such as a bush whose leaves were shaking but there wasn't any wind, I would try to fit the miracle into the real world and explain it in terms of natural phenomena. Votes: 0

Because atomic behavior is so unlike ordinary experience, it is very difficult to get used to, and it appears peculiar and mysterious to everyone - both to the novice and to the experienced physicist. Votes: 0

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool. Votes: 0

It always seems odd to me that the fundamental laws of physics, when discovered, can appear in so many different forms that are not apparently identical at first, but, with a little mathematical fiddling, you can show the relationship. Votes: 0

Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. Votes: 0

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, 'Oh, I forgot that bit,' then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you've figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is! Votes: 0

Gravitation is, so far, not understandable in terms of other phenomena. Votes: 0

The extreme weakness of quantum gravitational effects now poses some philosophical problems; maybe nature is trying to tell us something new here: maybe we should not try to quantize gravity. Votes: 0

I wanted very much to learn to draw, for a reason that I kept to myself: I wanted to convey an emotion I have about the beauty of the world. Votes: 0

(Joan,1941) She wrote me a letter asking,"How can I read it?,Its so hard." I told her to start at the beginning and read as far as you can get until you're lost. Then start again at the beginning and keep working through until you can understand the whole book. And thats what she did Votes: 0

... it is impossible to explain honestly the beauties of the laws of nature in a way that people can feel, without their having some deep understanding of mathematics. I am sorry, but this seems to be the case. Votes: 0

[B]eyond poverty, beyond the point that the material needs are reasonably satisfied, only from within is peace. Votes: 0

A great deal more is known than has been proved. Votes: 0

A person talks in such generalities that everyone can understand him and it's considered to be some deep philosophy . However, I would like to be very rather more special and I would like to be understood in an honest way, rather than in a vague way. Votes: 0

A philosopher once said, 'It is necessary for the very existence of science that the same conditions always produce the same results.' Well, they don't! Votes: 0

A poet once said, "The whole universe is in a glass of wine." We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to be understood... How vivid is the claret, pressing its existence into the consciousness that watches it! If our small minds, for some convenience, divide this glass of wine, this universe, into parts- physics, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology, and so on- remember that nature does not know it! So let us put it all back together, not forgetting ultimately what it is for. Let it give us one more final pleasure: drink it and forget it all! Votes: 0

A scientist is never certain. ... We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. Votes: 0

A very great deal more truth can become known than can be proven. Votes: 0

Agnostic for me would be trying to weasel out and sound a little nicer than I am about this. Votes: 0

All mass is interaction. Votes: 0

All the time you're saying to yourself, 'I could do that, but I won't,'--which is just another way of saying that you can't. Votes: 0

All theoretical chemistry is really physics; and all theoretical chemists know it. Votes: 0

All things are made of atoms-little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence ... there is an enormous amount of information about the world. His suggestion that the most valuable information on scientific knowledge in a single sentence using the fewest words is to state the atomic hypothesis. Votes: 0

All we know so far is what doesn't work. Votes: 0

Although it is uncertain, it is necessary to make science useful. Science is only useful if it tells you about some experiment that has not been done; it is not good if it only tells you what just went on. Votes: 0

An ordinary fool isn't a faker; an honest fool is all right. But a dishonest fool is terrible! Votes: 0

Another thing I must point out is that you cannot prove a vague theory wrong. Votes: 0

Any schemes - such as 'think of symmetry laws', or 'put the information in mathematical form', or 'guess equations'- are known to everybody now, and they are all tried all the time. When you are stuck, the answer cannot be one of these, because you will have tried these right away...The next scheme, the new discovery, is going to be made in a completely different way. Votes: 0

As revealed by physics, the truth is so remarkable, so amazing! Votes: 0

As usual, nature's imagination far surpasses our own, as we have seen from the other theories which are subtle and deep. Votes: 0

As you know, a theory in physics is not useful unless it is able to predict underlined effects which we would otherwise expect. Votes: 0

But logic is not all, one needs one's heart to follow an idea. Votes: 0

But see that the imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man. Votes: 0

But the real glory of science is that we can find a way of thinking such that the law is evident. Votes: 0

But there is nothing in biology yet found that indicates the inevitability of death. Votes: 0

By honest I don't mean that you only tell what's true. But you make clear the entire situation. You make clear all the information that is required for somebody else who is intelligent to make up their mind. Votes: 0

'Conservation' (the conservation law) means this ... that there is a number, which you can calculate, at one moment-and as nature undergoes its multitude of changes, this number doesn't change. That is, if you calculate again, this quantity, it'll be the same as it was before. An example is the conservation of energy: there's a quantity that you can calculate according to a certain rule, and it comes out the same answer after, no matter what happens, happens. Votes: 0

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there. Votes: 0

Don't pay attention to "authorities," think for yourself. Votes: 0

Don't think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of a minimum with other things so that society doesn't stop you from doing anything at all. Votes: 0

Don't worry about anything... Go out and have a good time. Votes: 0

Doubt is clearly a value in science. It is important to doubt and that the doubt is not a fearful thing, but a thing of great value. Votes: 0

Einstein was a giant. His head was in the clouds, but his feet were on the ground. But those of us who are not that tall have to choose! Votes: 0

Energy is a very subtle concept. It is very, very difficult to get right. Votes: 0

Every instrument that has been designed to be sensitive enough to detect weak light has always ended up discovering that the same thing: light is made of particles. Votes: 0

Everybody who reasons carefully about anything is making a contribution ... and if you abstract it away and send it to the Department of Mathematics they put it in books. Votes: 0

Everything is made of atoms. Votes: 0

Everything we know is only some kind of approximation, because we know that we do not know all the laws yet. Therefore, things must be learned only to be unlearned again or, more likely, to be corrected. Votes: 0

Experiment is the sole judge of the validity of any idea. Votes: 0

Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Votes: 0

Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don't think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of a minimum with other things so that society doesn't stop you from doing anything at all. Votes: 0

Few people realize the number of things that are possible. Votes: 0

First you guess. Don't laugh, this is the most important step. Then you compute the consequences. Compare the consequences to experience. If it disagrees with experience, the guess is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It doesn't matter how beautiful your guess is or how smart you are or what your name is. If it disagrees with experience, it's wrong. That's all there is to it. Votes: 0

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. Upon identifying the reason for the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and his demonstration using immersion in iced water to show that O-rings grow brittle when cold. Votes: 0

God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand. Votes: 0

I always do that, get into something and see how far I can go. Votes: 0

I am a successful lecturer in physics for popular audiences. The real entertainment gimmick is the excitement, drama and mystery of the subject matter. People love to learn something, they are 'entertained' enormously by being allowed to understand a little bit of something they never understood before. One must have faith in the subject and in people's interest in it. Votes: 0

I am not interested in what today's mathematicians find interesting. Votes: 0

I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain "¦ In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar. Votes: 0

I couldn't claim that I was smarter than sixty-five other guys--but the average of sixty-five other guys, certainly! Votes: 0

I do believe that there is a conflict between science and religion ... the spirit or attitude toward the facts is different in religion from what it is in science. The uncertainty that is necessary in order to appreciate nature is not easily correlated with the feeling of certainty in faith. Votes: 0

I don't believe I can really do without teaching. Votes: 0

I don't believe I can really do without teaching. The reason is, I have to have something so that when I don't have any ideas and I'm not getting anywhere, I can say to myself, "At least I'm living; at least I'm doing something. I'm making some contribution." It's just psychological. Votes: 0

I don't feel frightened by not knowing things. Votes: 0

I don't have to be good because they think I'm going to be good. Votes: 0

I don't know what's the matter with people: they don't learn by understanding, they learn by some other way "” by rote or something. Their knowledge is so fragile! Votes: 0

I don't like honors. ... I've already got the prize: the prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out, the kick in the discovery, the observation that other people use it. Those are the real things. Votes: 0

I don't like honors. I'm appreciated for the work that I did, and for people who appreciate it, and I notice that other physicists use my work. I don't need anything else. I don't think there's any sense to anything else.... I've already got the prize. The prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out, the kick in the discovery, the observation that other people use it. Those are the real things. The honors are unreal to me. I don't believe in honors... I can't stand it, it hurts me. Votes: 0

I don't think that the laws can be considered to be like God because they have been figured out. Votes: 0

I find that teaching and the students keep life going, and I would never accept any position in which somebody has invented a happy situation for me where I don't have to teach. Never. Votes: 0

I have a friend who's an artist, and he sometimes takes a view which I don't agree with. He'll hold up a flower and say, "Look how beautiful it is," and I'll agree. But then he'll say, "I, as an artist, can see how beautiful a flower is. But you, as a scientist, take it all apart and it becomes dull." I think he's kind of nutty. [...] There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts. Votes: 0

I have a limited intelligence and I've used it in a particular direction. Votes: 0

I have argued flying saucers with lots of people. I was interested in possible. They do not appreciate that the problem is not to demonstrate whether it's possible or not but whether it's going on or not. Votes: 0

I have the advantage of having found out how hard it is to get to really know something. How careful you have to be about checking your experiments. How easy it is to make mistakes and fool yourself. I know what it means to know something. Votes: 0

I have to disregard everybody else, and then I can do my own work. Votes: 0

I learned a lot of different things from different schools. MIT is a very good place"¦. It has developed for itself a spirit, so that every member of the whole place thinks that it's the most wonderful place in the world"”it's the center, somehow, of scientific and technological development in the United States, if not the world "¦ and while you don't get a good sense of proportion there, you do get an excellent sense of being with it and in it, and having motivation and desire to keep on Votes: 0

I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something. Votes: 0

I love only nature, and I hate mathematicians. Votes: 0

I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the power is a value. Votes: 0

I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here. I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell. Votes: 0

I think nature's imagination Is so much greater than man's, she's never going to let us relax Votes: 0

I think we can safely assume that no one understands quantum mechanics. Votes: 0

I think, however, that there isn't any solution to this problem of education other than to realize that the best teaching can be done only when there is a direct individual relationship between a student and a good teacher - a situation in which the student discusses the ideas, thinks about the things, and talks about the things. It's impossible to learn very much by simply sitting in a lecture, or even by simply doing problems that are assigned. But in our modern times we have so many students to teach that we have to try to find some substitute for the ideal. Votes: 0

I was terrible in English. I couldn't stand the subject. It seemed to me ridiculous to worry about whether you spelled something wrong or not, because English spelling is just a human convention--it has nothing to do with anything real, anything from nature. Any word can be spelled just as well a different way. Votes: 0

I wonder why. I wonder why. I wonder why I wonder. Votes: 0

I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned. Votes: 0

If a guy tells me the probability of failure is 1 in 100,000, I know he's full of crap. Votes: 0

If all of mathematics disappeared, physics would be set back by exactly one week. Votes: 0

If an apple was magnified to the size of the Earth, then the atoms in the apple would be approximately the size of the original apple. Votes: 0

If it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong. Votes: 0

If science is to progress, what we need is the ability to experiment, honesty in reporting results"”the results must be reported without somebody saying what they would like the results to have been"”and finally"”an important thing"”the intelligence to interpret the results. Votes: 0

If the professors of English will complain to me that the students who come to the universities, after all those years of study, still cannot spell 'friend,' I say to them that something's the matter with the way you spell friend. Votes: 0

If there is something very slightly wrong in our definition of the theories, then the full mathematical rigor may convert these errors into ridiculous conclusions. Votes: 0

If we want to solve a problem that we have never solved before, we must leave the door to the unknown ajar Votes: 0

If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. Votes: 0

If you can find any other view of the world which agrees over the entire range where things have already been observed, but disagrees somewhere else, you have made a great discovery. Votes: 0

If you can't explain something to a first year student, then you haven't really understood . Votes: 0

If you don't like it, go somewhere else, to another universe where the rules are simpler. Votes: 0

If you have any talent, or any occupation that delights you, do it, and do it to the hilt. Don't ask why, or what difficulties you may get into. Votes: 0

If you keep proving stuff that others have done, getting confidence, increasing the complexities of your solutions - for the fun of it - then one day you'll turn around and discover that nobody actually did that one! And that's the way to become a computer scientist. Votes: 0

If you know that you are not sure, you have a chance to improve the situation. I want to demand this freedom for future generations. Votes: 0

if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid-not only what you think is right about it: other causes that could possibly explain your results; and things you thought of that you've eliminated by some other experiment, and how they worked-to make sure the other fellow can tell they have been eliminated. Votes: 0

I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever. Votes: 0

I'm smart enough to know that I'm dumb. Votes: 0

I'm trying to find out NOT how Nature could be, but how Nature IS. Votes: 0

In a way, the Nobel Prize has been something of a pain in the neck, though there was at least one time that I got some fun out of it, Shortly after I won the Prize, Gweneth and I received an invitation from the Brazilian government to be the guests of honor at the Carnaval celebrations in Rio. Votes: 0

In fact the total amount that a physicist knows is very little. He has only to remember the rules to get him from one place to another and he is all right... Votes: 0

In fact, the science of thermodynamics began with an analysis, by the great engineer Sadi Carnot, of the problem of how to build the best and most efficient engine, and this constitutes one of the few famous cases in which engineering has contributed to fundamental physical theory. Another example that comes to mind is the more recent analysis of information theory by Claude Shannon. These two analyses, incidentally, turn out to be closely related. Votes: 0

In its efforts to learn as much as possible about nature, modern physics has found that certain things can never be "known" with certainty. Much of our knowledge must always remain uncertain. The most we can know is in terms of probabilities. Votes: 0

In physics the truth is rarely perfectly clear, and that is certainly universally the case in human affairs. Hence, what is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth. Votes: 0

In those days, in Far Rockaway, there was a youth center for Jewish kids at the temple.... Somebody nominated me for president of the youth center. The elders began getting nervous, because I was an avowed atheist by that time.... I thought nature itself was so interesting that I didn't want it distorted like that. And so I gradually came to disbelieve the whole religion. Votes: 0

It appears that there are enormous differences of opinion as to the probability of a failure with loss of vehicle and of human life. The estimates range from roughly 1 in 100 to 1 in 100,000. The higher figures come from the working engineers, and the very low figures from management. Votes: 0

It does not make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is if it disagrees with experiment it is wrong. That is all there is to it. Votes: 0

It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is wrong. Period. Votes: 0

It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil - which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama. Votes: 0

It is going to be necessary that everything that happens in a finite volume of space and time would have to be analyzable with a finite number of logical operations. The present theory of physics is not that way, apparently. It allows space to go down into infinitesimal distances, wavelengths to get infinitely great, terms to be summed in infinite order, and so forth; and therefore, if this proposition [that physics is computer-simulatable] is right, physical law is wrong. Votes: 0

It is important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge of what energy is Votes: 0

It is impossible, by the way, when picking one example of anything, to avoid picking one which is atypical in some sense. Votes: 0

It is necessary for the very existence of science that minds exist which do not allow that nature must satisfy some preconceived conditions. Votes: 0

It is not unscientific to make a guess, although many people who are not in science think it is. Votes: 0

It is our responsibility to leave the people of the future a free hand. Votes: 0

It is scientific only to say what is more likely and what less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and impossible. Votes: 0

It is simple, therefore it is beautiful Votes: 0

It is surprising that people do not believe that there is imagination in science. It is a very interesting kind of imagination, unlike that of the artist. The great difficulty is in trying to imagine something that you have never seen, that is consistent in every detail with what has already been seen, and that is different from what has been thought of; furthermore, it must be definite and not a vague proposition. That is indeed difficult. Votes: 0

It is the fact that the electrons cannot all get on top of each other that makes tables and everything else solid. Votes: 0

It is the facts that matter, not the proofs. Physics can progress without the proofs, but we can't go on without the facts ... if the facts are right, then the proofs are a matter of playing around with the algebra correctly. Votes: 0

It is to be emphasized that no matter how many [amplitude] arrows we draw, add, or multiply, our objective is to calculate a single final arrow for the event . Mistakes are often made by physics students at first because they do not keep this important point in mind. They work for so long analyzing events involving a single photon that they begin to think that the arrow is somehow associated with the photon [rather than with the event]. Votes: 0

It requires a much higher degree of imagination to understand the electromagnetic field than to understand invisible angels. ... I speak of the E and B fields and wave my arms and you may imagine that I can see them ... [but] I cannot really make a picture that is even nearly like the true waves. Votes: 0

It turns out that all life is interconnected with all other life. Votes: 0

It's amazing how many people even today use a computer to do something you can do with a pencil and paper in less time. Votes: 0

It's because somebody knows something about it that we can't talk about physics. It's the things that nobody knows anything about we can discuss. Votes: 0

Just as a poet often has license from the rules of grammar and pronunciation, we should like to ask for 'physicists' license from the rules of mathematics in order to express what we wish to say in as simple a manner as possible. Votes: 0

Know how to solve every problem that has been solved. Votes: 0

Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naive ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals are. Votes: 0

Learn what the rest of the world is like. The variety is worthwhile. Votes: 0

Listen, I mean that from my knowledge of the world that I see around me, I think that it is much more likely that the reports of flying saucers are the results of the known irrational characteristics of terrestrial intelligence than of the unknown rational efforts of extra-terrestrial intelligence. Votes: 0

Looking back at the worst times, it always seems that they were times in which there were people who believed with absolute faith and absolute dogmatism in something. And they were so serious in this matter that they insisted that the rest of the world agree with them. And then they would do things that were directly inconsistent with their own beliefs in order to maintain that what they said was true. Votes: 0

Mathematics is a language plus reasoning; it is like a language plus logic. Mathematics is a tool for reasoning. Votes: 0

Mathematics is not just a language. Mathematics is a language plus reasoning. Votes: 0

Maybe that is why young people make success. They don't know enough. Votes: 0

My friends and I had taken dancing lessons, although none of us would ever admit it. In those depression days, a friend of my mother was trying to make a living by teaching dancing in the evening, in an upstairs dance studio. There was a back door to the place, and she arranged it so the young men could come up through the back way without being seen. Votes: 0

My rule is, when you are unhappy, think about it. But when you're happy, don't. Why spoil it? You're probably happy for some ridiculous reason and you'd just spoil it to know it. Votes: 0

Nature does not care what we call it, she just keeps on doing it. Votes: 0

Nature has a great simplicity and therefore a great beauty Votes: 0

Nature...cannot be fooled! Votes: 0

Nature's imagination far surpasses our own. Votes: 0

No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated. Neither may a government determine the aesthetic value of artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literacy or artistic expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to the further adventure and the development of the human race. Votes: 0

No man is rich who is unsatisfied, but who wants nothing possess his heart's desire. Votes: 0

No one really understands quantum mechanics. Votes: 0

No! Not for a second! I immediately began to think how this could have happened. And I realized that the clock was old and was always breaking. That the clock probably stopped some time before and the nurse coming in to the room to record the time of death would have looked at the clock and jotted down the time from that. I never made any supernatural connection, not even for a second. I just wanted to figure out how it happened. Votes: 0

Observation, reason, and experiment make up what we call the scientific method. Votes: 0

Of course, you only live one life, and you make all your mistakes, and learn what not to do, and that's the end of you. Votes: 0

On the contrary, it's because somebody knows something about it that we can't talk about physics . It's the things that nobody knows anything about that we can discuss. We can talk about the weather; we can talk about social problems; we can talk about psychology; we can talk about international finance gold transfers we can't talk about, because those are understood so it's the subject that nobody knows anything about that we can all talk about! Votes: 0

One cannot understand... the universality of laws of nature, the relationship of things, without an understanding of mathematics. There is no other way to do it. Votes: 0

One does not, by knowing all the physical laws as we know them today, immediately obtain an understanding of anything much. I love only nature, and I hate mathematicians. Votes: 0

One of the ways of stopping science would be only to do experiments in the region where you know the law. But experimenters search most diligently, and with the greatest effort, in exactly those places where it seems most likely that we can prove our theories wrong. In other words, we are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress. Votes: 0

Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there. Votes: 0

Our poets do not write about it; our artists do not try to portray this remarkable thing. I don't know why. Is nobody inspired by our present picture of the universe? The value of science remains unsung by singers... This is not yet a scientific age... Votes: 0

Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on. Votes: 0

Outside of their particular area of expertise scientists are just as dumb as the next person. Votes: 0

People may come along and argue philosophically that they like one better than another; but we have learned from much experience that all philosophical intuitions about what nature is going to do fail. Votes: 0

People often think I'm a faker, but I'm usually honest, in a certain way--in such a way that often nobody believes me! Votes: 0

People who wish to analyze nature without using mathematics must settle for a reduced understanding. Votes: 0

Phenomena complex-laws simple....Know what to leave out. Votes: 0

Philosophers say a great deal about what is absolutely necessary for science, and it is always, so far as one can see, rather naive, and probably wrong. Votes: 0

Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next? Votes: 0

Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is. Votes: 0

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of stars-mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is "mere". I too see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? ...What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little more about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Votes: 0

Precise language is not the problem. Clear language is the problem. Votes: 0

Progress in science comes when experiments contradict theory. Votes: 0

Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt. Votes: 0

Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers of the preceding generation. Votes: 0

Science is a process for learning about nature in which competing ideas about how the world works are measured against observations. Votes: 0

Science is a way for us to not fool ourselves. Votes: 0

Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. Votes: 0

Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgments can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show. Votes: 0

Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it Votes: 0

Science is of value because it can produce something. Votes: 0

Science is uncertain. Votes: 0

Science is what we do to keep us from lying to ourselves Votes: 0

Scientific knowledge is an enabling power to do either good or bad "” but it does not carry instructions on how to use it. Votes: 0

Since then I never pay attention to anything by "experts". I calculate everything myself. Votes: 0

So far as we know, all the fundamental laws of physics, like Newton's equations, are reversible. Votes: 0

So I have just one wish for you "“ the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom. Votes: 0

So my antagonist said, "Is it impossible that there are flying saucers? Can you prove that it's impossible?" "No", I said, "I can't prove it's impossible. It's just very unlikely". At that he said, "You are very unscientific. If you can't prove it impossible then how can you say that it's unlikely?" But that is the way that is scientific. It is scientific only to say what is more likely and what less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and impossible. Votes: 0

So this piece of dirt waits four and a half billion years and evolves and changes, and now a strange creature stands here with instruments and talks to the strange creatures in the audience. What a wonderful world! Votes: 0

Some people say, "How can you live without knowing?" I do not know what they mean. I always live without knowing. That is easy. How you get to know is what I want to know. Votes: 0

Some people think Wheeler's gotten crazy in his later years, but he's always been crazy. Votes: 0

Some things that satisfy the rules of algebra can be interesting to mathematicians even though they don't always represent a real situation. Votes: 0

Start out understanding religion by saying everything is possibly wrong... As soon as you do that, you start sliding down an edge which is hard to recover from... Votes: 0

Strange! I don't understand how it is that we can write mathematical expressions and calculate what the thing is going to do without being able to picture it. Votes: 0

Teach principles not formulas. Votes: 0

Tell your son to stop trying to fill your head with science "” for to fill your heart with love is enough. Votes: 0

Thank you very Much, I enjoyed myself Votes: 0

That is the logical tight-rope on which we have to walk if we wish to interpret nature. Votes: 0

The basis of action on love, the brotherhood of all men, the value of the individual... the humility of the spirit. Votes: 0

The beauty that is there is also available for me, too. But I see a deeper beauty that isn't so readily available to others.... I don't see how studying a flower ever detracts from its beauty. It only adds Votes: 0

The chance is high that the truth lies in the fashionable direction. But, on the off chance that it is in another direction — a direction obvious from an unfashionable view of field theory — who will find it? Only someone who has sacrificed himself by teaching himself quantum electrodynamics from a peculiar and unfashionable point of view; one that he may have to invent for himself. Votes: 0

The difficulty really is psychological and exists in the perpetual torment that results from your saying to yourself, "But how can it be like that?" which is a reflection of uncontrolled but utterly vain desire to see it in terms of something familiar. ... If you will simply admit that maybe [Nature] does behave like this, you will find her a delightful, entrancing thing. Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possible avoid it, "But how can it be like that?" because you will get 'down the drain', into a blind alley from which nobody has escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that. Votes: 0

The easiest person to fool is yourself. Votes: 0

The electron is a theory we use; it is so useful in understanding the way nature works that we can almost call it real. Votes: 0

The electron is a theory. But the theory is so good we can almost consider them real. Votes: 0

The exception tests the rule. Votes: 0

The fact that you are not sure means that it is possible that there is another way someday. Votes: 0

The female mind is capable of understanding analytic geometry... The difficulty may just be that we have never yet discovered a way to communicate with the female mind. If it is done in the right way, you may be able to get something out of it. Votes: 0

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself"”and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that. Votes: 0

The fundamental principle of science, the definition almost, is this: the sole test of the validity of any idea is experiment. Votes: 0

The game I play is a very interesting one. It's imagination in a straightjacket, which is this: that it has to agree with the known laws of physics. ... It requires imagination to think of what's possible, and then it requires an analysis back, checking to see whether it fits, whether its allowed, according to what's known, okay? Votes: 0

The game I play is a very interesting one. It's imagination, in a tight straightjacket. Votes: 0

The inside of a computer is as dumb as hell but it goes like mad! Votes: 0

The most important thing I found out from [my father] is that if you asked any question and pursued it deeply enough, then at the end there was a glorious discovery of a general and beautiful kind. Votes: 0

The only way to deep happiness is to do something you love to the best of your ability Votes: 0

The only way to have real success in science, the field I'm familiar with, is to describe the evidence very carefully without regard to the way you feel it should be. If you have a theory , you must try to explain what's good and what's bad about it equally. In science, you learn a kind of standard integrity and honesty . Votes: 0

The other thing that gives a scientific man the creeps in the world today are the methods of choosing leaders - in every nation. Today, for example, in the United States, the two political parties have decided to employ public relations men, that is, advertising men, who are trained in the necessary methods of telling the truth or lying in order to develop a product. Votes: 0

The 'paradox' is only a conflict between reality and your feeling of what reality 'ought to be. Votes: 0

The present situation in physics is as if we know chess, but we don't know one or two rules. Votes: 0

The principle of science, the definition, almost, is the following: The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific "truth." But what is the source of knowledge? Where do the laws that are to be tested come from? Experiment, itself, helps to produce these laws, in the sense that it gives us hints. But also needed is imagination to create from these hints the great generalizations--to guess at the wonderful, simple, but very strange patterns beneath them all, and then to experiment to check again whether we have made the right guess. Votes: 0

The problem of creating something new, but which is consistent with everything which has been seen before, is one of extreme difficulty. Votes: 0

The Quantum Universe has a quotation from me in every chapter - but it's a damn good book anyway. Votes: 0

The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good. But nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity"”and until they do (and find the cure), all ideal plans will fall into quicksand. Votes: 0

The same equations have the same solutions Votes: 0

The shell game that we play ... is technically called 'renormalization'. But no matter how clever the word, it is still what I would call a dippy process! Having to resort to such hocus-pocus has prevented us from proving that the theory of quantum electrodynamics is mathematically self-consistent. It's surprising that the theory still hasn't been proved self-consistent one way or the other by now; I suspect that renormalization is not mathematically legitimate. Votes: 0

The test of all knowledge is experiment. Votes: 0

The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific truth. Votes: 0

The theoretical broadening which comes from having many humanities subjects on the campus is offset by the general dopiness of the people who study these things ... Votes: 0

The truth always turns out to be simpler than you thought. Votes: 0

The unanswerable mysteries... the attitude that all is uncertain... to summarize it - the humility of the intellect. Votes: 0

The whole question of imagination in science is often misunderstood by people in other disciplines. ... They overlook the fact that whatever we are allowed to imagine in science must be consistent with everything else we know. Votes: 0

The work I have done has, already, been adequately rewarded and recognized. Imagination reaches out repeatedly trying to achieve some higher level of understanding, until suddenly I find myself momentarily alone before one new corner of nature's pattern of beauty and true majesty revealed. That was my reward. Votes: 0

The world is a dynamic mess of jiggling things Votes: 0

The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it. Votes: 0

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. Votes: 0

There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower. Votes: 0

There are theoretical physicists who imagine, deduce, and guess at new laws, but do not experiment; and then there are experimental physicists who experiment, imagine, deduce, and guess. Votes: 0

There are thousands of years in the past, and there is an unknown amount of time in the future. There are all kinds of opportunities, and there are all kinds of dangers. Votes: 0

There is enough energy in a single cubic meter of space to boil all the oceans in the world. Votes: 0

There is no authority who decides what is a good idea. Votes: 0

There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made. Votes: 0

There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. Votes: 0

There is nothing in biology yet found that indicates the inevitability of death. This suggests to me that it is not at all inevitable and that it is only a matter of time before biologists discover what it is that is causing us the trouble. Votes: 0

There's so much distance between the fundamental rules and the final phenomenon, that it's almost unbelievable that the final variety of phenomenon can come from such a steady operation of such simple rules. Votes: 0

Therefore psychologically we must keep all the theories in our heads, and every theoretical physicist who is any good knows six or seven different theoretical representations for exactly the same physics. Votes: 0

This attitude of mind - this attitude of uncertainty - is vital to the scientist, and it is this attitude of mind which the student must first acquire. It becomes a habit of thought. Once acquired, we cannot retreat from it anymore. Votes: 0

This is not very important what I'm doing. I'm just proving something. Votes: 0

This is not yet a scientific age. Votes: 0

This is the key of modern science and is the beginning of the true understanding of nature . This idea . That to look at the things, to record the details, and to hope that in the information thus obtained, may lie a clue to one or another of a possible theoretical interpretation. Votes: 0

Thus we can get the correct answer for the probability of partial reflection by imagining (falsely) that all reflection comes from only the front and back surfaces. In this intuitively easy analysis, the 'front surface' and 'back surface' arrows are mathematical constructions that give us the right answer, whereas .... a more accurate representation of what is really going on: partial reflection is the scattering of light by electrons inside the glass. Votes: 0

To decide upon the answer is not scientific. In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar ajar only. Votes: 0

To develop working ideas efficiently, I try to fail as fast as I can. Votes: 0

To do any important work in physics a very good mathematical ability and aptitude are required. Some work in applications can be done without this, but it will not be very inspired. If you must satisfy your "personal curiosity concerning the mysteries of nature" what will happen if these mysteries turn out to be laws expressed in mathematical terms (as they do turn out to be)? You cannot understand the physical world in any deep or satisfying way without using mathematical reasoning with facility. Votes: 0

To guess what to keep and what to throw away takes considerable skill. Actually it is probably merely a matter of luck, but it looks as if it takes considerable skill. Votes: 0

To not know math is a severe limitation to understanding the world. Votes: 0

To test whether you have learned an idea or a definition, rephrase what you just learned without using the new word. Votes: 0

Unless a thing can be defined by measurement, it has no place in a theory. And since an accurate value of the momentum of a localized particle cannot be defined by measurement it therefore has no place in the theory. Votes: 0

Victory usually goes to those green enough to underestimate the monumental hurdles they are facing. Votes: 0

We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. Votes: 0

We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified "” how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don't know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know. Votes: 0

We are lucky to live in an age in which we are still making discoveries. Votes: 0

We are never right, we can only be sure we are wrong. Votes: 0

We are not to tell nature what she's gotta be. She's always got better imagination than we have. Votes: 0

We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress. Votes: 0

We can deduce, often, from one part of physics like the law of gravitation, a principle which turns out to be much more valid than the derivation. Votes: 0

We can't define anything precisely. If we attempt to, we get into the paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers... one saying to the other: you don't know what you are talking about! The second one says: what do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you? What do you mean by know? Votes: 0

We decided that 'trivial' means 'proved'. So we joked with the mathematicians: We have a new theorem- that mathematicians can prove only trivial theorems, because every theorem that's proved is trivial. Votes: 0

We find that the statements of science are not of what is true and what is not true, but statements of what is known with different degrees of certainty: "It is very much more likely that so and so is true than that it is not true". Votes: 0

We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover up all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or describe how you had the wrong idea first, and so on. So there isn't any place to publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order to get to do the work, although, there has been in these days, some interest in this kind, thing. Votes: 0

We have been led to imagine all sorts of things infinitely more marvelous than the imagining of poets and dreamers of the past. It shows that the imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man. For instance, how much more remarkable it is for us all to be stuck-half of us upside down-by a mysterious attraction, to a spinning ball that has been swinging in space for billions of years, than to be carried on the back of an elephant supported on a tortoise swimming in a bottomless sea. Votes: 0

We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress, we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Votes: 0

We have this terrible struggle to try to explain things to people who have no reason to want to know. Votes: 0

We need to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed. It's OK to say, "I don't know." Votes: 0

We scientists are clever "” too clever "” are you not satisfied? Is four square miles in one bomb not enough? Men are still thinking. Just tell us how big you want it! Votes: 0

We've learned from experience that the truth will come out. Votes: 0

We've learned from experience that the truth will come out. Other experimenters will repeat your experiment and find out whether you were wrong or right. Nature's phenomena will agree or they'll disagree with your theory. And, although you may gain some temporary fame and excitement, you will not gain a good reputation as a scientist if you haven't tried to be very careful in this kind of work. And it's this type of integrity, this kind of care not to fool yourself, that is missing to a large extent in much of the research in cargo cult science. Votes: 0

What did you ASK at school today? Votes: 0

What I cannot create, I do not understand. Votes: 0

What I can't create I don't understand Votes: 0

What is necessary for 'the very existence of science,' and what the characteristics of nature are, are not to be determined by pompous preconditions, they are determined always by the material with which we work, by nature herself. We look, and we see what we find, and we cannot say ahead of time successfully what it is going to look like. ... It is necessary for the very existence of science that minds exist which do not allow that nature must satisfy some preconceived conditions. Votes: 0

What is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth. Votes: 0

What is the fundamental hypothesis of science, the fundamental philosophy? We stated it in the first chapter: the sole test of the validity of any idea is experiment. ... If we are told that the same experiment will always produce the same result, that is all very well, but if when we try it, it does not, then it does not. We just have to take what we see, and then formulate all the rest of our ideas in terms of our actual experience. Votes: 0

What we need is imagination, but imagination in a terrible strait-jacket. Votes: 0

What would happen if we could arrange the atoms one by one the way we want them? Votes: 0

When a scientist doesn't know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is in some doubt. Votes: 0

When a scientist doesn't know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of uncertainty-some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain. Votes: 0

When it came time for me to give my talk on the subject, I started off by drawing an outline of the cat and began to name the various muscles. The other students in the class interrupt me: "We *know* all that!" "Oh," I say, "you *do*? Then no *wonder* I can catch up with you so fast after you've had four years of biology." They had wasted all their time memorizing stuff like that, when it could be looked up in fifteen minutes. Votes: 0

When the problem [quantum chromodynamics] is finally solved, it will all be by imagination. Then there will be some big thing about the great way it was done. But it's simple -it will all be by imagination, and persistence. Votes: 0

When things are going well, something will go wrong. / When things just can't get any worse, they will. / Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something. Votes: 0

When you are thinking about something you don't understand you have a terrible, uncomfortable feeling called confusion. The confusion is, because we are all some kind of apes that are kind of stupid trying to figure out how to put two sticks together to reach the banana, and we can't quite make it. So I always feel stupid. Once in a while, I put the two sticks together, and I reach the banana. Votes: 0

When you get as old as I am, you start to realize that you've told most of the good stuff you know to other people anyway. Votes: 0

Whenever you see a sweeping statement that a tremendous amount can come from a very small number of assumptions, you always find that it is false. There are usually a large number of implied assumptions that are far from obvious if you think about them sufficiently carefully. Votes: 0

While I am describing to you how Nature works, you won't understand why Nature works that way. But you see, nobody understands that. Votes: 0

Why make yourself miserable saying things like, "Why do we have such bad luck? What has God done to us? What have we done to deserve this?" - all of which, if you understand reality and take it completely into your heart, are irrelevant and unsolvable. They are just things that nobody can know. Your situation is just an accident of life. Votes: 0

Winning a Nobel Prize is no big deal, but winning it with an IQ of 124 is really something. Votes: 0

Words can be meaningless. If they are used in such a way that no sharp conclusions can be drawn. Votes: 0

Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Votes: 0

Work hard to find something that fascinates you. Votes: 0

You can always recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity. Votes: 0

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. Votes: 0

You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity. When you get it right, it is obvious that it is right -- at least if you have any experience -- because usually what happens is that more comes out than goes in. Votes: 0

You can't say A is made of B or vice versa. All mass is interaction. Votes: 0

You do not know anything until you have practiced. Votes: 0

You know how it always is, every new idea, it takes a generation or two until it becomes obvious that there's no real problem. I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem. Votes: 0

You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their simple questions when they come into your office. You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself "” it is too sad a way to be. Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naïve ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals are. Votes: 0

You see, I get so much fun out of thinking that I don't want to destroy this pleasant machine that makes life such a big kick. Votes: 0

You should not fool the laymen when you're talking as a scientist... . I'm talking about a specific, extra type of integrity that is not lying, but bending over backwards to show how you're maybe wrong, [an integrity] that you ought to have when acting as a scientist. And this is our responsibility as scientists, certainly to other scientists, and I think to laymen. Votes: 0