Richard P. Feynman Quotes - Page 11

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

Richard P. Feynman

Creating, Problem, Something New

Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands (2015). “The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. II: The New Millennium Edition: Mainly Electromagnetism and Matter”, p.679, Basic Books

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Looks, Want, Problem

Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.76, Princeton University Press

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Attitude, Mind, Religion

Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.286, Princeton University Press

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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!"

Richard P. Feynman

Men, Mcdonalds, Atheism

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

Richard P. Feynman

Interesting, Today, Mathematician

Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.232, Princeton University Press

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... 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.

Richard P. Feynman

Sorry, Science, Law

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Science, Reflection, Desire

"The Character of Physical Law". Book by Richard P. Feynman, 1965.

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Doubt, Ignorant, Answers

Richard P. Feynman (2011). “"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character”, p.263, W. W. Norton & Company

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Philosopher, Deals, Naive

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

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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!

Richard P. Feynman

Couple, Mean, Years

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

Richard P. Feynman

Atheism, Able, Physics

Richard P. Feynman (2008). “Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman”, p.116, Hachette UK

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Helping Others, Ideas, Giving

Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.132, Princeton University Press

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

Richard P. Feynman

Hate, Bad Ass, Boring

"Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman". Book by James Gleick, 1992.

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Past, Opportunity, Years

Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.358, Princeton University Press

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Integrity, Lying, Responsibility

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

Richard P. Feynman

Nature, Men, Imagination

Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.85, Princeton University Press

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Science is of value because it can produce something.

Richard P. Feynman

Produce, Values

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

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

Richard P. Feynman

Thinking, Assuming, Mechanic

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Lying, Keys, Ideas

"The Character of Physical Law". Book by Richard P. Feynman, 1965.

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Different, Six, Physics

Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.161, Princeton University Press

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

Richard P. Feynman

Science, Doors, Decide Upon

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Philosophy, Special, Way

"The Character of Physical Law". Richard P. Feynman's Messenger Lectures at Cornell University (November 1964), later quoted in his book "The Character of Physical Law" (Chapter 1 "The Law of Gravitation", p. 13), www.youtube.com. 1965.

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Law, Curiosity, Important

Richard P. Feynman (2008). “Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman”, p.160, Hachette UK

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

Richard P. Feynman

Nature, Imagination, Usual

Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.128, Princeton University Press

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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.

Richard P. Feynman

Lying, Party, Men

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Born: May 11, 1918
Died: February 15, 1988
Occupation: Physicist
Cite this Page: Citation

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