Feynman, Richard

"It is impossible to win the war. The best you can do is not lose."

"The more you understand the connections, the more interesting the science becomes."

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in various directions about these things, which I regard as interesting, as compared to being sure about it but being wrong."

"What I have to do now is become responsible for the quality of the science that is being done."

"One of my favorite maxims is that the principle of science is you do not do an experiment to test your belief – you do the experiment to test nature."

"After you've finished the work and done your best, you should feel pretty good about yourself."

"I didn't think I was selected because I was going to do great things. I was just enthusiastically curious."

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

"What I cannot create, I do not understand."

"The principle of science is that all knowledge is uncertain."

"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."

"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."

"The beauty of a flower is in its petals, not in a description of them."

"Nature isn't classical, dammit, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you'd better make it quantum mechanical."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand."

"Do not keep saying to yourself if you can possibly avoid it, 'But how shall I begin?' Just begin."

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

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts."

"If you want to master something, teach it."

"The real problem in conversation is not usually in the real estate of facts about which you are conscious, but rather in the state of mind you are in."

"I wonder why. I wonder why. I wonder why I wonder. I wonder why I wonder why I wonder why I wonder."

"Careful is spelled with two l's."

"It is far better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating."

"If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics."

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it."

"I'm an atheist, but I'm very sorry – I wish I believed in whatever it is that makes you believe, because the fight would be less terrible."

"Education should teach you how to think, not what to think."

"The first thing is to realize that you don't know. Don't assume you know."

"I have never gotten any help from my mother, in the sense that I never consulted her on aspects of my life."

"There is pleasure in recognizing old ideas in a new context."