You can always recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity. Richard P. Feynman More Quotes by Richard P. Feynman More Quotes From Richard P. Feynman Some people think Wheeler's gotten crazy in his later years, but he's always been crazy. Richard P. Feynman crazy years thinking When it came time for me to give my talk on the subject, I started off by drawing an outline of the cat and began to name the various muscles. The other students in the class interrupt me: "We *know* all that!" "Oh," I say, "you *do*? Then no *wonder* I can catch up with you so fast after you've had four years of biology." They had wasted all their time memorizing stuff like that, when it could be looked up in fifteen minutes. Richard P. Feynman cat class years People often think I'm a faker, but I'm usually honest, in a certain way--in such a way that often nobody believes me! Richard P. Feynman sarcastic believe thinking We are lucky to live in an age in which we are still making discoveries. Richard P. Feynman lucky age discovery The shell game that we play ... is technically called 'renormalization'. But no matter how clever the word, it is still what I would call a dippy process! Having to resort to such hocus-pocus has prevented us from proving that the theory of quantum electrodynamics is mathematically self-consistent. It's surprising that the theory still hasn't been proved self-consistent one way or the other by now; I suspect that renormalization is not mathematically legitimate. Richard P. Feynman self games clever I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain … In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar. Richard P. Feynman opportunity science thinking In fact the total amount that a physicist knows is very little. He has only to remember the rules to get him from one place to another and he is all right. Richard P. Feynman littles remember facts I think we can safely assume that no one understands quantum mechanics. Richard P. Feynman mechanic assuming thinking It is scientific only to say what is more likely and what less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and impossible. Richard P. Feynman possible-and-impossible prove impossible Science is of value because it can produce something. Richard P. Feynman values produce If you don't like it, go somewhere else, to another universe where the rules are simpler. Richard P. Feynman universe ifs somewhere-else If it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong. Richard P. Feynman disagree experiments ifs If you keep proving stuff that others have done, getting confidence, increasing the complexities of your solutions - for the fun of it - then one day you'll turn around and discover that nobody actually did that one! And that's the way to become a computer scientist. Richard P. Feynman one-day done fun I find that teaching and the students keep life going, and I would never accept any position in which somebody has invented a happy situation for me where I don't have to teach. Never. Richard P. Feynman accepting students teaching Another of the qualities of science is that it teaches the value of rational thought, as well as the importance of freedom of thought; the positive results that come from doubting that all the lessons are true... Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. Richard P. Feynman quality ignorance doubt Mathematics is a language plus reasoning. It's like a language plus logic. Mathematics is a tool for reasoning. Richard P. Feynman logic language tools I think that when we know that we actually do live in uncertainty, then we ought to admit it; it is of great value to realize that we do not know the answers to different questions. This attitude of mind - this attitude of uncertainty - is vital to the scientist, and it is this attitude of mind which the student must first acquire. Richard P. Feynman value great mind attitude Trying to understand the way nature works involves a most terrible test of human reasoning ability. It involves subtle trickery, beautiful tightropes of logic on which one has to walk in order not to make a mistake in predicting what will happen. The quantum mechanical and the relativity ideas are examples of this. Richard P. Feynman walk nature mistake beautiful The fact that the colors in the flower have evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; that means insects can see the colors. That adds a question: does this aesthetic sense we have also exist in lower forms of life? Richard P. Feynman colors aesthetic flower life If I could explain it to the average person, it wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize. Richard P. Feynman explain worth person prize
