Physics is to math what sex is to masturbation.
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The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good. But nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity and until they do (and find the cure) all ideal plans will fall into quicksand.
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If you're teaching a class, you can think about the elementary things that you know very well. These things are kind of fun and delightful. It doesn't do any harm to think them over again. Is there a better way to present them? The elementary things are easy to think about; if you can't think of a new thought, no harm done; what you thought about it before is good enough for the class. If you do think of something new, you're rather pleased that you have a new way of looking at it. The questions of the students are often the source of new research. They often ask profound questions that I've thought about at times and then given up on, so to speak, for a while. It wouldn't do me any harm to think about them again and see if I can go any further now. The students may not be able to see the thing I want to answer, or the subtleties I want to think about, but they remind me of a problem by asking questions in the neighborhood of that problem. It's not so easy to remind yourself of these things.
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No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
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I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring.
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There are 1011 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
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Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results,but that's not why we do it.
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Is no one inspired by our present picture of the universe? Our poets do not write about it; our artists do not try to portray this remarkable thing. The value of science remains unsung by singers: you are reduced to hearing not a song or poem, but an evening lecture about it. This is not yet a scientific age.
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We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover up all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or describe how you had the wrong idea first, and so on. So there isn't any place to publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order to get to do the work.
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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, possibly. It doesn't frighten me.
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We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
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He had this van that was painted all around, you know, with large Feynman diagrams. And you know, most people would look at those diagrams, of course, and they would look like some squiggly lines and they would mean nothing. But every so often, obviously, someone would see them and say, 'Why do you have Feynman diagrams on your van?' And he would say, 'Because I'm Richard Feynman.'
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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. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
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Listen, buddy, if I could tell you in a minute what I did, it wouldn't be worth the Nobel Prize.
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I was born not knowing and have only had a little time to change that here and there.
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The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to.
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Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next
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I don't know what's the matter with people: they don't learn by understanding, they learn by some other way - by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile.
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I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
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Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next?
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For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
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I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.
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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.
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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.
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There is no harm in doubt and scepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made.
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Nature has a great simplicity and therefore a great beauty.
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