John von Neumann gave me an interesting idea: that you don't have to be responsible for the world that you're in. So I have developed a very powerful sense of social irresponsibility as a result of von Neumann's advice. It's made me a very happy man ever since. But it was von Neumann who put the seed in that grew into my active irresponsibility!
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!". Book by Richard P. Feynman. Part 3: "Feynman, The Bomb, and the Military", "Los Alamos from Below", p. 132, 1985.
