“We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don't know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.”
― The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman
― The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman
“If one is working from the point of view of getting beauty into one's equation, ... one is on a sure line of progress.”
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“I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way—by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!”
― Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character
― Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character
“When you ask what are electrons and protons I ought to answer that this question is not a profitable one to ask and does not really have a meaning. The important thing about electrons and protons is not what they are but how they behave, how they move. I can describe the situation by comparing it to the game of chess. In chess, we have various chessmen, kings, knights, pawns and so on. If you ask what chessman is, the answer would be that it is a piece of wood, or a piece of ivory, or perhaps just a sign written on paper, or anything whatever. It does not matter. Each chessman has a characteristic way of moving and this is all that matters about it. The whole game os chess follows from this way of moving the various chessmen.”
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“Nothing is harder yet nothing is more necessary, than to speak of certain things whose existence is neither demonstrable nor probable. The very fact that serious and conscientious men treat them as existing things brings them a step closer to existence and to the possibility of being born.
Spoken by Albertus Secundus in "Das Glasperlenspiel”
― The Glass Bead Game
Spoken by Albertus Secundus in "Das Glasperlenspiel”
― The Glass Bead Game
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