140 quotes
Energy is a very subtle concept. It is very, very difficult to get right.
It appears that there are enormous differences of opinion as to the probability of a failure with loss of vehicle and of human life.
Rogers Commission Report (1986)
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
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.
The Meaning of It All (1999)
So far as we know, all the fundamental laws of physics, like Newton's equations, are reversible.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964)
Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005)
Finally, I said that I couldn’t see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, and teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (1985)
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.
I hope ... that you will find someday that, after all, it isn't as horrible as it looks.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964)
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.
The Value of Science (1955)
The same equations have the same solutions
The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964)
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.
Another way to remember their size is this: if an apple is magnified to the size of the earth, then the atoms in the apple are approximately the size of the original apple.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1963)
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.
The Character of Physical Law (1965)
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.
What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988)
The old problems, such as the relation of science and religion, are still with us, and I believe present as difficult dilemmas as ever, but they are not often publicly discussed because of the limitations of specialization.
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!
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.
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!
note (1945)
The electron does anything it likes. It just goes in any direction at any speed, forward or backward in time, however it likes...