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Richard P. Feynman Quotes - Page 2

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Science is the organized skepticism in the reliability of expert opinion

Science is the organized skepticism in the reliability of expert opinion

Richard P. Feynman
Reliability, Experts, Opinion

Scientists are explorers. Philosophers are tourists.

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

The only way to deep happiness is to do something you love to the best of your ability

Richard P. Feynman
Way, Ability, Deep Happiness

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

We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty.

Richard P. Feynman
People, Doubt, Progress
"The Pleasure of Finding Things Out". Book by Richard P. Feynman, 1999.

Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.

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

No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated. Neither may a government determine the aesthetic value of artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literacy or artistic expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to the further adventure and the development of the human race.

Richard P. Feynman
Religious, Philosophical, Character
"The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist". Book by Richard Feynman, 1999.

You do not know anything until you have practiced.

Richard P. Feynman
Knows

The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.

Richard P. Feynman
Laughter, Inspiration, Compassion
Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.92, Princeton University Press

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Teach principles not formulas.

Richard P. Feynman
Principles, Teach, Formulas

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)

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.

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

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

Progress in science comes when experiments contradict theory.

Richard P. Feynman
Science, Progress, Theory

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 still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty - some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain.

Richard P. Feynman
Ignorance, Order, Ignorant
"The Value of Science". Richard P. Feynman's public address at the National Academy of Sciences, Autumn 1955.

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

There is enough energy in a single cubic meter of space to boil all the oceans in the world.

Richard P. Feynman
Ocean, Space, Energy

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