Richard Feynman

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."

"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."

"If you thought you were trying to find out more about it because you're gonna get an answer to some deep philosophical question...you may be wrong! It may be that you can't get an answer to that particular question by finding out more about the character of nature. But my interest in science is to simply find out about the world."

"I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy."

"We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on."

"I have no responsibility to live up to what others expect of me. That's their mistake, not my failing."

"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."

"If you thought that science was certain - well, that is just an error on your part."

"I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."

"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."

"Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is."

"Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds."

"We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on."

"Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves."

"Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it."

"We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress."

"[Quantum mechanics] describes nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And yet it fully agrees with experiment. So I hope you can accept nature as She is - absurd."

"Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is."