Richard P. Feynman Quotes - Page 2

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• Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty -- some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely certain.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Degrees, Body, Absolute Certainty

  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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• 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Order, People, Worst Times

  Richard P. Feynman (2009). “The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist”, p.19, Hachette UK

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• I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers, and possible beliefs, and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything. There are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask "Why are we here?" I might think about it a little bit, and if I can't figure it out then I go on to something else. 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.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Mean, Humility, Acceptance

  "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.

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• The thing that doesn't fit is the thing that is most interesting.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Interesting, Fit, Most Interesting

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• 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

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• 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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• Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Interesting, World, Matter

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• What is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Uncertainty

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.290, Princeton University Press

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• We have this terrible struggle to try to explain things to people who have no reason to want to know.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Struggle, Communication, People

  Richard P. Feynman (2005). “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman”, p.61, Hachette UK

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• The "paradox" is only a conflict between reality and your feeling of what reality "ought to be."

  Richard P. Feynman

  Reality, Feelings, Conflict

  "The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume III". Book edited by Robert B. Leighton and Matthew Sands (pp. 18-19), 1964.

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• Have no respect whatsoever for authority; forget who said it and instead look what he starts with, where he ends up, and ask yourself, "Is it reasonable?"

  Richard P. Feynman

  Looks, Physics, Forget

  Richard P. Feynman (2011). “"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character”, p.29, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Progress in science comes when experiments contradict theory.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Progress, Theory

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• I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Atoms, Cosmology, Universe

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.65, Princeton University Press

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• To develop working ideas efficiently, I try to fail as fast as I can.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Failure, Ideas, Trying

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• What I cannot create, I do not understand.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Inspiring, Education, Learning

  Quoted in James Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)

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• Science is the organized skepticism in the reliability of expert opinion

  Richard P. Feynman

  Reliability, Experts, Opinion

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• There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Doubt, No Doubt

  Richard P. Feynman (2005). “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman”, p.61, Hachette UK

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• I wonder why. I wonder why. I wonder why I wonder.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Wonder

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.167, Princeton University Press

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• Teach principles not formulas.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Principles, Teach, Formulas

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• 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

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• It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is wrong. Period.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Smart, Your Side, Matter

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• Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Uplifting, Wisdom, Nature

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.66, Princeton University Press

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• When things are going well, something will go wrong. / When things just can't get any worse, they will. / Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Difficulty, Wells, Overlooked

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• Outside of their particular area of expertise scientists are just as dumb as the next person.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Dumb, Next, Scientist

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• Another of the qualities of science is that it teaches the value of rational thought, as well as the importance of freedom of thought; the positive results that come from doubting that all the lessons are true... Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Ignorance, Doubt, Quality

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