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Richard P. Feynman Quotes - Page 12

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Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naïve ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals are.

Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naïve ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals are.

Richard P. Feynman
Teacher, World, Youth
"Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman". Book by Richard P. Feynman, 2005.

This is not yet a scientific age.

Richard P. Feynman
Age
Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.56, Princeton University Press

The fact that you are not sure means that it is possible that there is another way someday.

Richard P. Feynman
Mean, Way, Facts
Richard P. Feynman (2009). “The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist”, p.24, Hachette UK

You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things... It doesn't frighten me.

Richard P. Feynman
Ignorance, Knowing, Doubt

Ordinarily it would take me about fifteen minutes to get a hallucination going," wrote Feynman, "but on a few occasions, when I smoked some marijuana beforehand, it came very quickly.

Richard P. Feynman
Marijuana, Fifteen, Hallucinations

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

If you thought you were trying to find out more about it because you're gonna get an answer to some deep philosophical question...you may be wrong! It may be that you can't get an answer to that particular question by finding out more about the character of nature. But my interest in science is to simply find out about the world.

Richard P. Feynman
Philosophical, Character, Trying
Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.115, Princeton University Press

So, ultimately, in order to understand nature it may be necessary to have a deeper understanding of mathematical relationships. But the real reason is that the subject is enjoyable, and although we humans cut nature up in different ways, and we have different courses in different departments, such compartmentaliz ation is really artificial, and we should take our intellectual pleasures where we find them.

Richard P. Feynman
Real, Cutting, Order
Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands (2013). “The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Desktop Edition Volume I”, Basic Books

You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity. When you get it right, it is obvious that it is right -- at least if you have any experience -- because usually what happens is that more comes out than goes in.

Richard P. Feynman
Truth, Simplicity, Obvious
"Sympathetic Vibrations: Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life". Book by K.C. Cole, 1985.

That is the logical tight-rope on which we have to walk if we wish to interpret nature.

Richard P. Feynman
Science, Wish, Rope

I have argued flying saucers with lots of people. I was interested in possible. They do not appreciate that the problem is not to demonstrate whether it's possible or not but whether it's going on or not.

Richard P. Feynman
People, Appreciate, Flying

The game I play is a very interesting one. It's imagination in a straightjacket, which is this: that it has to agree with the known laws of physics. ... It requires imagination to think of what's possible, and then it requires an analysis back, checking to see whether it fits, whether its allowed, according to what's known, okay?

Richard P. Feynman
Science, Thinking, Law

Mathematics is a language plus reasoning. It's like a language plus logic. Mathematics is a tool for reasoning.

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

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

There are theoretical physicists who imagine, deduce, and guess at new laws, but do not experiment; and then there are experimental physicists who experiment, imagine, deduce, and guess.

Richard P. Feynman
Law, Imagine, Physicist
Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands (2013). “The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Desktop Edition Volume I”, Basic Books

You know how it always is, every new idea, it takes a generation or two until it becomes obvious that there's no real problem. It has not yet become obvious to me that there's no real problem. I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem.

Richard P. Feynman
Real, Ideas, Two
"Simulating Physics with Computers". Richard P. Feynman, "International Journal of Theoretical Physics", Volume 21, 1982.

All theoretical chemistry is really physics; and all theoretical chemists know it.

Richard P. Feynman
Chemistry, Physics, Knows

There in wine is found the great generalization: all life is fermentation.

Richard P. Feynman
Wine, Life Is, Found
Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands (2015). “The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. I: The New Millennium Edition: Mainly Mechanics, Radiation, and Heat”, p.118, Basic Books

Every instrument that has been designed to be sensitive enough to detect weak light has always ended up discovering that the same thing: light is made of particles.

Richard P. Feynman
Light, Sensitive, Enough
Richard P. Feynman (2014). “QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter”, p.15, Princeton University Press

There is nothing in biology yet found that indicates the inevitability of death. This suggests to me that it is not at all inevitable and that it is only a matter of time before biologists discover what it is that is causing us the trouble.

Richard P. Feynman
Health, Inevitability Of Death, Matter

During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such as that a piece of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. Then a method was discovered for separating the ideas - which was to try one to see if it worked, and if it didn't work, to eliminate it. This method became organized, of course, into science.

Richard P. Feynman
Crazy, Ideas, Religion
Richard P. Feynman (2010). “"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character: Adventures of a Curious Character”, p.338, W. W. Norton & Company

When it came time for me to give my talk on the subject, I started off by drawing an outline of the cat and began to name the various muscles. The other students in the class interrupt me: "We *know* all that!" "Oh," I say, "you *do*? Then no *wonder* I can catch up with you so fast after you've had four years of biology." They had wasted all their time memorizing stuff like that, when it could be looked up in fifteen minutes.

Richard P. Feynman
Cat, Years, Class

Agnostic for me would be trying to weasel out and sound a little nicer than I am about this.

Richard P. Feynman
Trying, Sound, Would Be
"Genius Talk: Conversations With Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries". Book by Denis Brian, August 1, 1995.

It is impossible, by the way, when picking one example of anything, to avoid picking one which is atypical in some sense.

Richard P. Feynman
Example, Way, Impossible
"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. 27), www.youtube.com. 1965.

I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain … In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.

Richard P. Feynman
Science, Opportunity, Thinking

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