Oppenheimer Quotes

Amateurs seek the sun. Get eaten. Power stays in the shadows.

And now I am become Death. Destroyer of worlds.

Is anyone ever going to tell the truth about what’s happening here?

They won’t fear it until they understand it, and they won’t understand it until they’ve used it. When the world learns the terrible secret of Los Alamos, our work here will ensure a peace mankind has never seen.

The important thing isn’t “Can you read music?” It’s “Can you hear it?”[to Robert]

Theory will take you only so far.

Now it’s your turn to deal with the consequences of your achievement. And one day, when they’ve punished you enough, they’ll serve you salmon and potato salad. Make speeches, give you a medal. Pat you on the back, tell you all is forgiven. Just remember, it won’t be for you. It’ll be for them.

When I came to you with those calculations, we thought we might start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world.[J. Robert Oppenheimer]I remember it well. What of it?[Albert Einstein]I believe we did.[J. Robert Oppenheimer]

We imagine a future and our imaginings horrify us.

The world will remember this day. It’s too soon to determine what the results of the bombing are. But I’ll bet the Japanese didn’t like it.

Oppenheimer wanted to own the atomic bomb. He wanted to be the man who moved the Earth.

I don’t know if we can be trusted with such a weapon. But I know the Nazis can’t. We have no choice.[to Izzy]