Richard Feynman's best quotes – and two he never said
The top 3 according to 262 votes from people: What I cannot create, I do not understand. · The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool. · Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.. (Updated Sep 24, 2019.)
From 'What I cannot create, I do not understand' to the Challenger report: Richard Feynman's most quoted lines with their real source, plus two famous ones that are not his.
Top 13
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1
What I cannot create, I do not understand.
Written on his Caltech blackboard at the time of his death, February 1988.
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2
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.
'Cargo Cult Science', Caltech commencement address, 1974.
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3
Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.
'What Is Science?', address to the National Science Teachers Association, 1966.
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4
You can know the name of that bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird.
What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988).
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5
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
Rogers Commission report on the Challenger disaster, Appendix F, June 1986.
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6
Since then I never pay attention to anything by 'experts'. I calculate everything myself.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (1985).
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7
Hell, if I could explain it to the average person, it wouldn't have been worth the Nobel prize.
To a reporter, c. 1965; quoted in People magazine, 1985.
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8
I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.
The Character of Physical Law (1965), chapter 6.
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9
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Attributed: not in any of his books; the oldest printed source is from 2000, by Robyn Williams.
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10
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.
'The Value of Science', National Academy of Sciences, 1955.
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11
I can live with doubt, and uncertainty, and not knowing.
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, BBC interview, 1981.
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12
Shut up and calculate!
Misattributed: it comes from physicist David Mermin, summing up the Copenhagen interpretation.
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13
The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.
What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988), on what he learned from his mother.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (1)
Good on you for flagging the two fake ones. Half the posters on my office wall are 'Feynman' quotes he never said.