Quotes by Richard Feynman

You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here . . . I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell. It doesn't frighten me.

Growing in size and complexity ... living things, masses of atoms, DNA, protein ...

dancing a pattern ever more intricate.

Out of the cradle onto dry land ... here it is standing ... atoms with consciousness ...

matter with curiosity.

Stands at the sea ... wonders at wondering ... I ... a universe of atoms ...

an atom in the universe.

Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.

One of the ways of stopping science would be only to do experiments in the region where you know the law. But experimenters search most diligently, and with the greatest effort, in exactly those places where it seems most likely that we can prove our theories wrong. In other words, we are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.

We are only at the beginning of the development of the human race; of the development of the human mind, of intelligent life--we have years and years in the future.  It is our responsibility not to give the answer today as to what it is all about, to drive everybody down in that direction and to say: "This is a solution to it all."  Because we will be chained then to the limits of our present imagination.  We will only be able to do those things that we think today are the things to do.  Whereas, if we leave always some room for doubt, some room for discussion, and proceed in a way analogous to the sciences, then this difficulty will not arise.

To decide upon the answer is not scientific.  In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar---ajar only.

To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a
real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature ... If you
want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to
understand the language that she speaks in.

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.