Richard P. Feynman Quotes

A collection of quotes by Richard P. Feynman.

Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988) was an American physicist known for his exceptional contributions to the field of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Born in New York City, Feynman grew up with a deep passion for understanding the natural world. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Physics before pursuing his Ph.D. at Princeton University.

Feynman's work revolutionized the way scientists understood the behavior of fundamental particles and electromagnetic forces. His most notable achievement was the development of Feynman diagrams, a revolutionary tool used to visualize and calculate particle interactions. These diagrams laid the foundation for the successful unification of quantum mechanics and classical electromagnetism.

Throughout his career, Feynman made significant contributions to various areas of physics, including superfluidity, quantum statistical mechanics, and nuclear physics. He was also a charismatic teacher and an effective communicator of science. Feynman's lectures, known as "The Feynman Lectures on Physics," have inspired generations of students and continue to be widely influential.

Besides his scientific endeavors, Feynman had a unique personality and was known for his bongo playing, safecracking skills, and love for adventure. He served on the panel investigating the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, displaying his dedication to scientific integrity.

Richard Feynman was recognized with numerous honors and awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, which he shared with two other scientists. He left an indelible mark on the scientific community and remains one of the most celebrated physicists of the 20th century.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and y

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

Richard P. Feynman


Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as or

Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.

Richard P. Feynman

Humor Funny Science Inspirational

[Quantum mechanics] describes nature as absurd from the poin

[Quantum mechanics] describes nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And yet it fully agrees with experiment. So I hope you can accept nature as She is - absurd.

Richard P. Feynman

Science

Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooli

Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves.

Richard P. Feynman

Science Knowledge Foolishness Self Delusion Rationalism

We have been led to imagine all sorts of things infinitely m

We have been led to imagine all sorts of things infinitely more marvelous than the imagining of poets and dreamers of the past. It shows that the imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man. For instance, how much more remarkable it is for us all to be stuck-half of us upside down-by a mysterious attraction, to a spinning ball that has been swinging in space for billions of years, than to be carried on the back of an elephant supported on a tortoise swimming in a bottomless sea.

Richard P. Feynman

Science

You know, the most amazing thing happened to me tonight... I

You know, the most amazing thing happened to me tonight... I saw a car with the license plate ARW 357. Can you imagine? Of all the millions of license plates in the state, what was the chance that I would see that particular one tonight? Amazing!

Richard P. Feynman

Humor Funny Science

Odiaría morir dos veces, sería tan aburrido!.

Odiaría morir dos veces, sería tan aburrido!.

Richard P. Feynman

Humor Funny Science

There are thousands of years in the past, and there is an un

There are thousands of years in the past, and there is an unknown amount of time in the future. There are all kinds of opportunities, and there are all kinds of dangers.

Richard P. Feynman

Science Inspirational

All the time you're saying to yourself, 'I could do that, bu

All the time you're saying to yourself, 'I could do that, but I won't,'--which is just another way of saying that you can't.

Richard P. Feynman

Success Humor Funny Failure Inspirational

Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The princip

Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.

Richard P. Feynman

Science Inspirational

It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvelous univ

It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil - which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama.

Richard P. Feynman

Science Atheism Philosophy

We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possibl

We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.

Richard P. Feynman

Science

I learned very early the difference between knowing the name

I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

Richard P. Feynman

Science

Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, b

Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it.

Richard P. Feynman

Science Sex

What I am going to tell you about is what we teach our physi

What I am going to tell you about is what we teach our physics students in the third or fourth year of graduate school... It is my task to convince you not to turn away because you don't understand it. You see my physics students don't understand it... That is because I don't understand it. Nobody does.

Richard P. Feynman

Science Physics

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the

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

Education Science

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars -

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars - mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more?

Richard P. Feynman

Beauty

It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of unc

It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man.

Richard P. Feynman

History

Scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in

Scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in uncertainty, but they appear to be so deep and so impressive that the theory that it is all arranged as a stage for God to watch man's struggle for good and evil seems inadequate.

Richard P. Feynman

God

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to ch

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.

Richard P. Feynman

Change