Happy birthday, Richard
Feynman (May 11, 1918 - February 15, 1988)
[I]f you've got to add the word "science" to the name of the field then
it ain't one.
[Y]ou cannot prove a vague theory wrong.
A great deal more is known than has been proved.
But I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by
not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without
having any purpose- which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell,
possibly. It doesn't frighten me.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public
relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain
those things that you do not understand.
How can a man of integrity get along in Washington?
I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as
dumb as the next guy.
I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much
more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be
wrong.
I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of
something and knowing something.
I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.
If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth
the Nobel Prize.
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.
My life changed forever the day I realized I was not responsible for how
others see me.
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.
Physics is to math what sex is to masturbation.
Science is a lot like sex. Sometimes something useful comes of it, but
that's not the reason we're doing it.
Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself- and you are the
easiest person to fool.
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.
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...
The truth always turns out to be simpler than you thought.
There are 1011 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.
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.
We've learned from experience that the truth will come out.
What I cannot create, I do not understand.
What one fool can do, another can too.
Categories:
Quotes of the day,
Richard Feynman
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