Famous Quotes & Sayings

Richard P. Feynman

I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain … In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.

Richard P. Feynman

Unless a thing can be defined by measurement, it has no place in a theory. And since an accurate value of the momentum of a localized particle cannot be defined by measurement it therefore has no place in the theory.

Richard P. Feynman

It is odd, but on the infrequent occasions when I have been called upon in a formal place to play the bongo drums, the introducer never seems to find it necessary to mention that I also do theoretical physics.

Richard P. Feynman

Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgments can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show.

Richard P. Feynman

Scientists are explorers. Philosophers are tourists.

Richard P. Feynman

The difficulty really is psychological and exists in the perpetual torment that results from your saying to yourself, "But how can it be like that?" which is a reflection of uncontrolled but utterly vain desire to see it in terms of something familiar. ... If you will simply admit that maybe [Nature] does behave like this, you will find her a delightful, entrancing thing. Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possible avoid it, "But how can it be like that?" because you will get 'down the drain', into a blind alley from which nobody has escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.

Richard P. Feynman

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

Richard Dawkins

Cheetah genes cooperate with cheetah genes but not with camel genes, and vice versa. This is not because cheetah genes, even in the most poetic sense, see any virtue in the preservation of the cheetah species. They are not working to save the cheetah from extinction like some molecular World Wildlife Fund.

Richard Whately

To teach one who has no curiosity to learn, is to sow a field without ploughing it.

Nick Saban

He's going to have to carry a little more than maybe he's ready for. We're very pleased with his development, but in the absence of Ricky, we're going to lean on him a little more than we would like to.

John Pickett

Today is a one-piece news day, and we'll have several such days ahead as the market focuses on the economy in the absence of any other major indicators until December. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on this rally because this market can still turn on a dime on any negative news. I think we'll be stuck in a trading range until then.

William Raspberry

It isn't the incompetence of mothers that is at issue, but the absence of half of the adult support needed for families to be most effective.

David Trimble

In the absence of those certainties, in the absence of those commitments, we have decided it's premature to form a shadow administration,

Doug Schoen

In the absence of specifics that would throw his nomination into doubt, Democrats will be loath to want to be as combative and confrontational as they might otherwise be.

John Bolton

In the absence of serious Syrian cooperation on substantive matters, the mission can't get to the ultimate truth. That is what is seems to me the focus the U.N. Security Council should be.

Richard Opper

In the absence of real action at the federal level, states, cities and other nations are stepping forward to address the serious issues presented by climate change.

Jared Bernstein

In the absence of immigrant labor, wages might be a bit higher, particularly in sectors that hire lots of low-skilled labor, which could potentially show up as slightly higher prices.

Steve Gross

In the absence of having a formal discussion about expectations, most employees do what they think appropriate, which may not be what the company values most.

Ray Arvidson

I wouldn't be surprised as we move uphill that we find a section of the rock, in fact, that was modified in a shallow open-water environment. We haven't found the smoking-gun evidence for that yet.

Jack Boatwright

There are still places where you can see evidence of the 1906 earthquake. You just have to know where to look.

Ken Tower

What would make me more optimistic is if there was evidence that money on the sidelines is being put to work. But I'm not convinced.

Michael Shermer

Having a Nobel Prize or being a famous scientist will get you a week to a week and a half, metaphorically speaking, of a hearing for your new idea, but after that, it's going to tank if you don't have the evidence and support for it.

David Scott

He's a liar, in the view of the commissioner, except when it comes to his evidence about what he and Mr. Pelletier did together.

Mark Schneider

It is actually one of the really strong pieces of evidence in the report that we should be celebrating.

William Brennan

There is a lack of evidence in this case.

Kamal

There is no evidence to support this, ... This is just an unlikely assumption. If that were the case, then there would have been gunmen with the suicide bombers. There were no gunmen.

Amy Johnson

There is no evidence that there will be a shortage of flu vaccines this year. We do not expect to ration the vaccine or limit it to those at high risk of complications from flu because there should be enough for everyone.