"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."
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
"If you thought that science was certain - well, that is just an error on your part."
"Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it."
"I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."