Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there. Richard P. Feynman More Quotes by Richard P. Feynman More Quotes From Richard P. Feynman From a long view of the history of mankind the most significant event of the nineteenth century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. Richard P. Feynman viewslawdiscovery No one really understands quantum mechanics. Richard P. Feynman quantum-mechanicsmechanicquantum You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things... It doesn't frighten me. Richard P. Feynman ignoranceknowingdoubt Work hard to find something that fascinates you. Richard P. Feynman hardhard-work I am a successful lecturer in physics for popular audiences. The real entertainment gimmick is the excitement, drama and mystery of the subject matter. People love to learn something, they are 'entertained' enormously by being allowed to understand a little bit of something they never understood before. One must have faith in the subject and in people's interest in it. Richard P. Feynman realsuccessfuldrama I have to keep going to find out ultimately what is the matter with it in the end. Richard P. Feynman keep-goingendsmatter We are very lucky to be living in an age in which we are still making discoveries. It is like the discovery of America-you only discover it once. The age in which we live is the age in which we are discovering the fundamental laws of nature, and that day will never come again. It is very exciting, it is marvelous, but this excitement will have to go. Richard P. Feynman naturediscoveryscience 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, although, there has been in these days, some interest in this kind of thing. Richard P. Feynman workwritingfunny When a photon comes down, it interacts with electrons throughout the glass, not just on the surface. The photon and electrons do some kind of dance, the net result of which is the same as if the photon hit only on the surface. Richard P. Feynman resultsglasseskind I don't like honors. ... I've already got the prize: the prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out, the kick in the discovery, the observation that other people use it. Those are the real things. Richard P. Feynman realdiscoverypeople During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such as that a piece of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. Then a method was discovered for separating the ideas - which was to try one to see if it worked, and if it didn't work, to eliminate it. This method became organized, of course, into science. Richard P. Feynman crazyideasreligion The scale of light can be described by numbers called the frequency and as the numbers get higher, the light goes from red to blue to ultraviolet. We can't see ultraviolet light, but it can affect photographic plates. It's still light only the number is different. Richard P. Feynman lightbluenumbers It is impossible, by the way, when picking one example of anything, to avoid picking one which is atypical in some sense. Richard P. Feynman exampleimpossibleway Turbulence is the most important unsolved problem of classical physics. Richard P. Feynman physicsimportantproblem There is nothing in biology yet found that indicates the inevitability of death. This suggests to me that it is not at all inevitable and that it is only a matter of time before biologists discover what it is that is causing us the trouble. Richard P. Feynman inevitability-of-deathhealthmatter The present situation in physics is as if we know chess, but we don't know one or two rules. Richard P. Feynman chesstwoscience If you have any talent, or any occupation that delights you, do it, and do it to the hilt. Don't ask why, or what difficulties you may get into. Richard P. Feynman delightoccupationmay It is going to be necessary that everything that happens in a finite volume of space and time would have to be analyzable with a finite number of logical operations. The present theory of physics is not that way, apparently. It allows space to go down into infinitesimal distances, wavelengths to get infinitely great, terms to be summed in infinite order, and so forth; and therefore, if this proposition [that physics is computer-simulatable] is right, physical law is wrong. Richard P. Feynman finite-numberdistancescience As revealed by physics, the truth is so remarkable, so amazing! Richard P. Feynman truth-isphysicsremarkable The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to... No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it. Richard P. Feynman worthwhileproblemhelping
