Enrico Fermi

"Great discoveries are often preceded by great confusion."

"I am convinced that the most important thing is to remain curious throughout your life."

"The role of the scientist is to describe what is, not to prescribe what should be."

"Every paradox contains within it the seeds of a profound truth."

"You cannot truly understand something unless you can explain it to a child."

"The laws of nature are the closest thing we have to the thoughts of God."

"Uncertainty is not a weakness of science; it is its greatest strength."

"A scientist who thinks he has all the answers is not really a scientist."

"The beauty of mathematics is that it allows us to see the hidden order beneath apparent chaos."

"I believe that everything that can be imagined by the human mind can eventually be created."

"The more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know."

"Science is a conversation with nature, and nature always has the final word."

"To be a good scientist, one must combine the precision of an engineer with the creativity of an artist."

"The universe rewards persistence and punishes complacency."

"In every problem lies the seed of an equivalent opportunity."

"The greatest discoveries come not from asking 'How?' but from asking 'Why not?'"

"A mind that is content with what it already knows will never discover anything new."

"The test of a truly great idea is whether it opens up new questions."

"Nature is the ultimate teacher for those who are willing to learn."

"Time is the dimension in which life unfolds; understanding it is understanding existence itself."

"Scientific revolutions happen when someone is brave enough to question what everyone assumes is true."

"The human capacity for wonder is what separates us from other animals and should be cherished."

"In science, we do not prove things to be true; we simply fail to disprove them until we do."

"The most creative scientists are often those who bring ideas from other fields into their own."

"Life is a puzzle, and science is the process of figuring out the pieces."

"One should never assume that the conventional wisdom is the final word on any subject."

"The grandeur of the universe is matched only by our capacity to comprehend it."

"Every experiment that fails is still valuable—it eliminates one wrong answer."

"I have always believed that wonder is the mother of science."

"To change the world, you must first change the way you think about the world."