Feynman quotes

Physics is like sex:

sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.

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… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing — that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

Ignore your son’s attempts to teach you physics. Physics isn’t the most important thing. Love is.

If you’re interested in the ultimate character of the physical world, of the real, of the complete world, at the present time our only way to understand that is through a mathematical type of reasoning. Then I don’t think a person can fully appreciate or, in fact, can appreciate much of these particular aspects of the world, the great depth and character of the universality of the laws, the relationships of things, without an understanding of the mathematics. I don’t know any other way to do it. We don’t know any other way to describe it accurately and well, to see the interrelationships without it. So I don’t think a person who hasn’t developed some mathematical sense is capable of fully appreciating this aspect of the world. Don’t misunderstand me, there are many, many aspects of the world that mathematics is unnecessary for, such as love, and which are very delightful and wonderful to appreciate and to feel awed and mysterious about and I don’t mean to say that the only thing in the world is physics, but we were talking about physics, and if that’s what you’re talking about, then to not know mathematics is a severe limitation in understanding the world.

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars — mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is “mere”. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them.

The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.

Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don’t think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of a minimum with other things so that society doesn’t stop you from doing anything at all.

I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here. I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell.