25 Richard Feynman’s Quotes to Spark Your Inner Curiosity

You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It’s their mistake, not my failing.Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (ed. W. W. Norton, 1985), Page 172

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.'Cargo Cult Science,' commencement address, California Institute of Technology (June 1974), Page 12

We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress. The Character of Physical Law (ed. The M.I.T. Press, 1965), Page 158

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.'What is Science?' speech, National Science Teachers Association, New York City (1966)

If you thought before that science was certain – well, that is just an error on your part.The Character of Physical Law (The M.I.T. Press, 1965), Page 77

Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.Letter to J. M. Szabados (November 30, 1965)

Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.The Character of Physical Law (ed. The M.I.T. Press, 1965), Page 34

I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.From interview in BBC TV Horizon documentaries 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out' (November 23, 1981)

Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there.The Character of Physical Law (ed. The M.I.T. Press, 1965), Page 127-128

An ordinary fool isn’t a faker; an honest fool is all right. But a dishonest fool is terrible! Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (ed. W. W. Norton, 1985), Page 284

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.'Personal Observations on Reliability of Shuttle.' Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (Jun 6, 1986)

A very great deal more truth can become known than can be proven.'The Development of the Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics,' Nobel Lecture (December 11, 1965)

What is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth.Letter to the editor of the California Tech (February 27, 1976)

The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language.'New Textbooks for the 'New' Mathematics,' Engineering and Science, Volume 28, No. 6 (March 1965), Page 14

There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt.From lecture 'What is and What Should be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society', given at the Galileo Symposium in Italy (1964)

The “paradox” is only a conflict between reality and your feeling of what reality “ought to be.” The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964), Volume 1-3, Page 1308

The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.'The Value of Science,' Engineering and Science, Volume 19, (December 1955), Page 13-14

But logic is not all, one needs one’s heart to follow an idea.'The Relation of Science and Religion' speech at the Caltech YMCA Lunch Forum (May 2, 1956)

For those who want some proof that physicists are human, the proof is in the idiocy of all the different units which they use for measuring energy.The Character of Physical Law (The M.I.T. Press, 1965), Page 75

I don’t know anything, but I do know that everything is interesting if you go into it deeply enough.From Omni interview, 'The Smartest Man in the World' (1979)

The thing that doesn’t fit is the thing that is most interesting.From interview in BBC TV Horizon documentaries 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out' (November 23, 1981)

The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion. What Do You Care What Other People Think? (ed. W. W. Norton, 1988), Page 19

Tell your son to stop trying to fill your head with science – for to fill your heart with love is enough. No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman by Christopher Sykes (ed. W. W. Norton, 1994), Page 161

There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made.Letter to Armando Garcia Jr. (December 11, 1985)

Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.'The Value of Science,' Engineering and Science, Volume 19, (December 1955), Page 15