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Quotes by Physicist
"The science of today is the technology of tomorrow."
110
"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field."
102
"In particular, I established a reasonably accurate energy threshold for permanent displacement of a nucleus from its regular lattice position, substantially smaller than had been previously presumed."
59
"In order to more fully understand this reality, we must take into account other dimensions of a broader reality."
58
"Science always has its origin in the adaptation of thought to some definite field of experience."
55
"I appeal to my fellow scientists to remember their responsibility to humanity."
53
"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there."
49
"Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries."
49
"But scientists on both sides of the iron curtain played a very significant role in maintaining the momentum of the nuclear arms race throughout the four decades of the Cold War."
44
"If the militarily most powerful - and least threatened - states need nuclear weapons for their security, how can one deny such security to countries that are truly insecure? The present nuclear policy is a recipe for proliferation. It is a policy for disaster."
43
"It is my opinion that everything must be based on a simple idea. And it is my opinion that this idea, once we have finally discovered it, will be so compelling, so beautiful, that we will say to one another, yes, how could it have been any different."
43
"At a time when science plays such a powerful role in the life of society, when the destiny of the whole of mankind may hinge on the results of scientific research, it is incumbent on all scientists to be fully conscious of that role, and conduct themselves accordingly."
40
"The task which we have set ourselves is simply to show why and for what purpose we hold that standpoint during most of our lives, and why and for what purpose we are provisionally obliged to abandon it."
40
"But heat can also be produced by the friction of liquids, in which there could be no question of changes in structure, or of the liberation of latent heat."
36
"The decision to use the atom bomb on Japanese cities, and the consequent buildup of enormous nuclear arsenals, was made by governments, on the basis of political and military perceptions."
34
"When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb."
29
"It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge."
29
"No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical."
28
"Knowledge once gained casts a light beyond its own immediate boundaries."
28
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."
26
"Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry."
25
"There's two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery."
25
"Not only does God play dice, but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen."
24
"Long before the terrifying potential of the arms race was recognized, there was a widespread instinctive abhorrence of nuclear weapons, and a strong desire to get rid of them."
23
"What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning."
23
"We are told that the possession of nuclear weapons - in some cases even the testing of these weapons - is essential for national security. But this argument can be made by other countries as well."
22
"Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would halve the sales."
22
"A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering."
22
"God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world."
21
"The violent reaction on the recent development of modern physics can only be understood when one realises that here the foundations of physics have started moving; and that this motion has caused the feeling that the ground would be cut from science."
21
"An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes, which can be made, in a very narrow field."
20
"Theologians have a great problem because they're seeking to speak about God. Since God is the ground of everything that is, there's a sense in which every human inquiry is grist to the theological mill. Obviously, no theologian can know everything."
20
"My father was a professor of civil engineering at MIT, and my mother taught high school English."
19
"Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it."
19
"Ordinary photons do have spin, they have a notion of helicity so they spin around their direction on motion."
19
"Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences."
19
"I entered the Physics Department in 1950, receiving a Master's degree in 1953 and a Ph.D. in 1956. It is difficult to convey the sense of excitement that pervaded the Department at that time."
19
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