Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The Quantum Universe has a quotation from me in every chapter - but it's a damn good book anyway.
We are not to tell nature what she’s gotta be... She's always got better imagination than we have.
Victory usually goes to those green enough to underestimate the monumental hurdles they are facing.
Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
People who wish to analyze nature without using mathematics must settle for a reduced understanding.
We have this terrible struggle to try to explain things to people who have no reason to want to know.
Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it
I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever.
Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next?
Tell your son to stop trying to fill your head with science - for to fill your heart with love is enough!
Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.
If we want to solve a problem that we have never solved before, we must leave the door to the unknown ajar.
If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives.
We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
[B]eyond poverty, beyond the point that the material needs are reasonably satisfied, only from within is peace.
God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand.
Mathematics is a language plus reasoning. It's like a language plus logic. Mathematics is a tool for reasoning.
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?
I've always been very one-sided about science, and when I was younger, I concentrated almost all my effort on it.
Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter.
It is the fact that the electrons cannot all get on top of each other that makes tables and everything else solid.
The basis of action on love, the brotherhood of all men, the value of the individual... the humility of the spirit.
I couldn't claim that I was smarter than sixty-five other guys--but the average of sixty-five other guys, certainly!
The unanswerable mysteries... the attitude that all is uncertain... to summarize it - the humility of the intellect.
To test whether you have learned an idea or a definition, rephrase what you just learned without using the new word.
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!
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.
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.
The electron is a theory we use; it is so useful in understanding the way nature works that we can almost call it real.
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!
As usual, nature's imagination far surpasses our own, as we have seen from the other theories which are subtle and deep.
Scientific knowledge is an enabling power to do either good or bad — but it does not carry instructions on how to use it.
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.
It is impossible, by the way, when picking one example of anything, to avoid picking one which is atypical in some sense.
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.
A scientist is never certain. ... We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning.
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.
We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress, we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt.
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.
The thing that doesn't fit is the thing that's the most interesting: the part that doesn't go according to what you expected.
To decide upon the answer is not scientific. In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar ajar only.
The fundamental principle of science, the definition almost, is this: the sole test of the validity of any idea is experiment.
As you know, a theory in physics is not useful unless it is able to predict underlined effects which we would otherwise expect.
You see, I get such fun out of thinking that I don't want to destroy this most pleasant machine that makes life such a big kick.
I don't believe in honors - it bothers me. Honors bother: honors is epaulettes; honors is uniforms. My papa brought me up this way.
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.
While I am describing to you how Nature works, you won't understand why Nature works that way. But you see, nobody understands that.
Science is a process for learning about nature in which competing ideas about how the world works are measured against observations.
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.