Richard P. Feynman Quotes About Science

Quotes about: Science

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

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Errors, Certain

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.349, Princeton University Press

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

  Richard P. Feynman

  Sex, Learning, Science

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Strong, Struggle, Science

  Richard P. Feynman (2011). “"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character”, p.264, W. W. Norton & Company

• 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?

  Richard P. Feynman

  Stars, Science, Night

  Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands (2013). “The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol. 1 for tablets”, Basic Books

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Nature, Real, Learning

  The Character of Physical Law ch. 2 (1965)

• Physics is to mathematics what sex is to masturbation.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Sex, Math, Science

  "Fear of Physics: A Guide for the Perplexed". Book by Lawrence M. Krauss (p. 27), 1993.

• Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Ignorance, Science, Thinking

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.291, Princeton University Press

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Inspirational, Responsibility, Science

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.359, Princeton University Press

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Thinking, Doubt

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.146, Princeton University Press

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Graduation, Learning, School

  Richard P. Feynman (2014). “QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter”, p.9, Princeton University Press

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

  Richard P. Feynman

  Badass, Knowledge, Science

  Richard P. Feynman (2005). “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman”, p.21, Hachette UK

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Stars, Learning, Science

  "Richard P. Feynman, Teacher". David L. Goodstein, "Physics Today", Volume 42, No. 2, February 1989.

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

  Richard P. Feynman

  Clever, Love Life, Science

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.345, Princeton University Press

• I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Inspirational, Motivational, Education

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.6, Princeton University Press

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

  Richard P. Feynman

  Death, Knowledge, Science

  "Horizon (The Pleasure of Finding Things Out)". Documentary (November 23, 1981), later published in "No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman" edited by Christopher Sykes (p. 239), 1994.

• Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Philosophy, Science, Technology

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

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Progress, Trying

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.130, Princeton University Press

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Beautiful, Smart, Science

• Physics is not the most important thing. Love is.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Technology, Love Is

  "Quantum theory via 40-tonne trucks: How science writing became popular" by Marcus Chown, www.independent.co.uk. January 17, 2010.

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

  Richard P. Feynman

  Inspirational, Nature, Science

  Rogers Commission Report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident appendix (1986)

• Scientists are explorers. Philosophers are tourists.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Tourists, Philosopher

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.113, Princeton University Press

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Names, Bird

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.68, Princeton University Press

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Real, Science, Imagination

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.87, Princeton University Press

• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Beautiful, Smart, Science

• The truth always turns out to be simpler than you thought.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Truth, Science, Simplicity

  "Sympathetic Vibrations: Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life". Book by K. C. Cole, 1985.

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