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The Quotable Feynman
"Some people say, 'How can you live without knowing?' I do not know what they mean. I always live without knowing. That is easy. How you get to know is what I want to know."--Richard P. Feynman
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard P. Feynman (1918-88) was that rarest of creatures--a towering scientific genius who could make himself understood by anyone and who became as famous for the wit and wisdom of his popular lectures and writings as for his fundamental contributions to science. "The Quotable Feynman" is a treasure-trove of this revered and beloved scientist's most profound, provocative, humorous, and memorable quotations on a wide range of subjects.
Carefully selected by Richard Feynman's daughter, Michelle Feynman, from his spoken and written legacy, including interviews, lectures, letters, articles, and books, the quotations are arranged under two dozen topics--from art, childhood, discovery, family, imagination, and humor to mathematics, politics, science, religion, and uncertainty. These brief passages--about 500 in all--vividly demonstrate Feynman's astonishing yet playful intelligence, and his almost constitutional inability to be anything other than unconventional, engaging, and inspiring. The result is a unique, illuminating, and enjoyable portrait of Feynman's life and thought that will be cherished by his fans at the same time that it provides an ideal introduction to Feynman for readers new to this intriguing and important thinker.
The book features a foreword in which physicist Brian Cox pays tribute to Feynman and describes how his words reveal his particular genius, a piece in which cellist Yo-Yo Ma shares his memories of Feynman and reflects on his enduring appeal, and a personal preface by Michelle Feynman. It also includes some previously unpublished quotations, a chronology of Richard Feynman's life, some twenty photos of Feynman, and a section of memorable quotations about Feynman from other notable figures.
Features:
Approximately 500 quotations, some of them previously unpublished, arranged by topic
A foreword by Brian Cox, reflections by Yo-Yo Ma, and a preface by Michelle Feynman
A chronology of Feynman's life
Some twenty photos of Feynman
A section of quotations about Feynman from other notable figures
Some notable quotations of Richard P. Feynman:
"The thing that doesn't fit is the most interesting."
"Thinking is nothing but talking to yourself inside."
"It is wonderful if you can find something you love to do in your youth which is big enough to sustain your interest through all your adult life. Because, whatever it is, if you do it well enough (and you will, if you truly love it), people will pay you to do what you want to do anyway."
"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring."
432 pages, Hardcover
First published September 29, 2015
About the author
Richard P. Feynman
243 books6,185 followersRichard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as work in particle physics (he proposed the parton model). For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman was a joint recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, together with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. Feynman developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime and after his death, Feynman became one of the most publicly known scientists in the world.
He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb and was a member of the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In addition to his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing, and introducing the concept of nanotechnology (creation of devices at the molecular scale). He held the Richard Chace Tolman professorship in theoretical physics at Caltech.
-wikipedia
See Ричард Фейнман
He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb and was a member of the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In addition to his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing, and introducing the concept of nanotechnology (creation of devices at the molecular scale). He held the Richard Chace Tolman professorship in theoretical physics at Caltech.
-wikipedia
See Ричард Фейнман
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 28, 2019
"Creo que no me equivoco al decir que nadie entiende la mecánica cuántica...mejor que dejemos de pensar constantemente si podemos evitarlo: pero cómo puede ser esto? , porque lo único que conseguiremos con ello es entrar en un callejón sin salida del que nadie ha escapado aún"
Premio novel de Física en 1965
Premio novel de Física en 1965
October 17, 2015
If you asked people who did physics degrees in my generation - or who were working physicists for that matter - to name their favourite physicist, while there might have been a few dissenters going for, say, Fred Hoyle, the vast bulk would say Richard Feynman. (I honestly don't know if it's the same for young physicists now - it would be interesting to find out.) The reason I mention Hoyle is that the two shared a lot of characteristics. Neither of them sounded like a physicist. Both were, to a degree, iconoclastic. And both came up with delightful quotes. So given all that, it should be no surprise that we get here a collection of Feynman's best snippets, edited by his daughter Michelle.
This isn't the first book of this kind - there was also The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, and like Einstein, Feynman was both a brilliant physicist who was able to see the world differently and a master of the witty remark, often pithy and pungent, each managing to get to the heart of their particular areas of science in a few words. I don't suppose this book will do as well as the Einstein one because Feynman is less well known to the public in general - but in the physics community it will be lapped up.
The collection was certainly fun to dip into, and with sections on everything from nature to philosophy and humour to war it has plenty of range. However, I have a couple of problems with this as a book. The first is that this kind of thing can become a hagiography, and having prefaces by cellist Yo Yo Ma and TV scientist Brian Cox made it seem even more so that this was the case. In a sense, a daughter is not necessarily the best person to edit a collection like this. Because the book cried out for a section labelled 'Things he got wrong'. Feynman himself would have cheerfully admitted that this a major route to getting to better answers and there are bound to be some quotes that were heartily adrift from later developments, whether in his own field or others.
My other issue is quite what to do with the book as a reader. I have made the attempt to read it through for this review, but frankly, even with a man of Feynman's wit, there are only so many snippets out of context that you can read without getting bored. I think it would have been better to have stripped out all but the best quotes and given each a page of context to make it more interesting. Given the volume as it is, the main use I would have thought it had was a dictionary of quotations. I often dig out the Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations when writing, and it's poor on Feynman (just 7 entries) - so having another 500 is, in theory, excellent.
I say 'in theory' because the publishers have made an attempt to shoot themselves in the foot. In the front material they comment 'Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, Princeton University Press.' (I wonder if I should have asked permission to reproduce that?) But that takes away about the only real point of having the book. In practice, I don't think they can get away with this on anything other than items that aren't themselves quotes from other books, TV appearances etc, such as personal letters and notes, as quoting publicly available sources has long been accepted without permission. But even so it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
This isn't the first book of this kind - there was also The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, and like Einstein, Feynman was both a brilliant physicist who was able to see the world differently and a master of the witty remark, often pithy and pungent, each managing to get to the heart of their particular areas of science in a few words. I don't suppose this book will do as well as the Einstein one because Feynman is less well known to the public in general - but in the physics community it will be lapped up.
The collection was certainly fun to dip into, and with sections on everything from nature to philosophy and humour to war it has plenty of range. However, I have a couple of problems with this as a book. The first is that this kind of thing can become a hagiography, and having prefaces by cellist Yo Yo Ma and TV scientist Brian Cox made it seem even more so that this was the case. In a sense, a daughter is not necessarily the best person to edit a collection like this. Because the book cried out for a section labelled 'Things he got wrong'. Feynman himself would have cheerfully admitted that this a major route to getting to better answers and there are bound to be some quotes that were heartily adrift from later developments, whether in his own field or others.
My other issue is quite what to do with the book as a reader. I have made the attempt to read it through for this review, but frankly, even with a man of Feynman's wit, there are only so many snippets out of context that you can read without getting bored. I think it would have been better to have stripped out all but the best quotes and given each a page of context to make it more interesting. Given the volume as it is, the main use I would have thought it had was a dictionary of quotations. I often dig out the Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations when writing, and it's poor on Feynman (just 7 entries) - so having another 500 is, in theory, excellent.
I say 'in theory' because the publishers have made an attempt to shoot themselves in the foot. In the front material they comment 'Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, Princeton University Press.' (I wonder if I should have asked permission to reproduce that?) But that takes away about the only real point of having the book. In practice, I don't think they can get away with this on anything other than items that aren't themselves quotes from other books, TV appearances etc, such as personal letters and notes, as quoting publicly available sources has long been accepted without permission. But even so it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
October 17, 2021
When I read “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”, I recalled that 42 years ago I started out majoring in physics, switching because I was too immature to understand that I had to have the ... understanding ... before I could get to the "good stuff". David S. Wood, in an interview with Shirley K. Cohen in May of 1994 had this to say
Quotes and notes curated by his daughter, there is a lot of good stuff here. The curation tells its own story as will my selected highlights. From a book of quotes, best get to noting what I found notable during the read, with the section headings chosen by Michelle (any comments of mine in italics following):
Youth
I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
– What Do You Care What Other People Think?, p. 14
Family
[On his son:] He’s a lot like me, so at least I’ve passed on this idea that everything is interesting to at least one other person. Of course, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, you see?
– Omni interview, February 1979
I like the precision of "to at least one other person"...
Autobiographical
[On philosophers:] It isn’t the philosophy that gets me, it’s the pomposity. If they’d just laugh at themselves!
– Omni interview, February 1979 (The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, p. 195)
Love it!
Perhaps it is just that I enjoy being peculiar.
– Letter to Dr. Detlev W. Bronk and the National Academy of Sciences, August 1961 (Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track, p. 108)
Perhaps I do as well
You ask me on what I think about life, etc., as if I had some wisdom. Maybe, by accident, I do — of course I don’t know — all I know is I have opinions.
– Letter to Mr. V. A. Van Der Hyde, July 1986 (Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track, p. 413)
It turned out that the notes I took at conferences were never very useful for anything, and I don’t take much notes at conferences any more.
- Interview with Charles Weiner, February 4, 1966 (Niels Bohr Library and Archives with the Center for the History of Physics)
This! I discovered that years ago when I tried looking at some of my notes from conferences. Not very useful.
Nature
[On the laws of gravitation:] The only applications of the knowledge of the law that I can think of are in geophysical prospecting, in predicting the tides, and nowadays,
more modernly, in working out the motions of the satellites and planet probes that we send up, and so on; and finally, also modernly, to calculate the predictions of the planets’ positions, which have great utility for astrologists who publish their predictions in horoscopes in the magazines. It is a strange world we live in — that all the new advances in understanding are used only to continue the nonsense which has existed for 2,000 years.
– The Character of Physical Law, p. 27
Oh, snap.
Nature of Science
Physics is not mathematics, and mathematics is not physics. One helps the other. But in physics you have to have an understanding of the connection of words with the
real world. It is necessary at the end to translate what you have figured out into English, into the world, into the blocks of copper and glass that you are going to do the experiments with. Only in that way can you find out whether the consequences are true.
– The Character of Physical Law, p. 55
Science is only useful if it tells you about some experiment that has not been done; it is no good if it only tells you what just went on.
– The Character of Physical Law, p. 164
Curiosity and Discovery
The way I think of what we’re doing is, we’re exploring — we’re trying to find out as much as we can about the world. People say to me, “Are you looking for the ultimate laws of physics?” No, I’m not. I’m just looking to find out more about the world. If it turns out there is a simple ultimate law which explains everything, so be it; that would be very nice to discover. If it turns out it’s like an onion, with millions of layers, and we’re sick and tired of looking at the layers, then that’s the way it is. But whatever it comes out, it’s nature, and she’s going to come out the way she is! Therefore when we go investigate it we shouldn’t predecide what it is we’re going to find, except to find out more.
– BBC, “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out,” 1981
"we shouldn’t predecide"...so simple, and yet so missing sometimes
How Physicists Think
The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language. The desire is to have the idea clearly communicated to the other person. It is only
necessary to be precise when there is some doubt as to the meaning of a phrase, and then the precision should be put in the place where the doubt exists. It is really quite impossible to say anything with absolute precision, unless that thing is so abstracted from the real world as to not represent any real thing.
– “New Textbooks for the ‘New’ Mathematics,” Engineering and Science 28, no. 6 (March 1965)
Science and Society
Who are the witch doctors? Psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, of course. If you look at all of the complicated ideas that they have developed in an infinitesimal amount of time, if you compare to any other of the sciences how long it takes to get one idea after the other. If you consider all the structures and inventions and complicated things, the ids and the egos, the tensions and the forces, and the pushes and the pulls, I tell you they can’t all be there. It’s too much for one brain or a few brains to have cooked up in such a short time.
– “The Unscientific Age,” John Danz Lecture Series, 1963
I believe that the science has remained irrelevant because we wait until somebody asks us questions or until we are invited to give a speech on Einstein’s theory to people who don’t understand Newtonian mechanics, but we never are invited to give an attack on faith-healing or on astrology on what is the scientific view of astrology today.
– Galileo Symposium, “What Is and What Should Be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society,” September 1964
Until science eventually took it on itself, but it didn’t matter.
Mathematics
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. C. P. Snow talked about two cultures. I
really think that those two cultures separate people who have and people who have not had this experience of understanding mathematics well enough to appreciate nature once.
– The Character of Physical Law, p. 58
Politics
No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated. Neither may a
government determine the aesthetic value of artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literary or artistic expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to further adventure and the development of the human race.
– “The Uncertainty of Values,” John Danz Lecture Series, 1963
The other thing that gives a scientific man the creeps in the world today are the methods of choosing leaders — in every nation. Today, for example, in the United States, the two political parties have decided to employ public relations men, that is, advertising men, who are trained in the necessary methods of telling the truth and lying in order to develop a product. This wasn’t the original idea. They are supposed to discuss situations and not just make up slogans. It’s true, if you look in history, however, that choosing political leaders in the United States has been on many different occasions based on slogans.
– Galileo Symposium, “What Is and What Should Be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society,” September 1964
Education and Teaching
I finally figured out a way to test whether you have taught an idea or you have only taught a definition. Test it this way: You say, “Without using the new word which you have just learned, try to rephrase what you have just learned in your own language.”
– National Science Teachers Association Fourteenth Convention lecture, “What Is Science?” April 1966
The Future
People in the past, in the nightmare of their times, had dreams for the future. And now that the future has materialized, we see that in many ways the dreams have been surpassed, but in still more ways there are many of our dreams of today which are very much the dreams of people of the past.
– Galileo Symposium, “What Is and What Should Be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society,” September 1964
And these new areas; when I was an undergraduate, nobody did quantum mechanics, except super-advanced PhD students. First they had to learn all sorts of fancy Hamiltonian mechanics and all sorts of stuff, it was thought then. You had to go through all that monkey business before you could hope to even begin quantum mechanics . . . . Richard Feynman, among other people, showed that you don’t have to go through that other stuff. You just start talking about quantum mechanics and the kids lap it up.I had a very good teacher in Dr. V. V. Raman, but if Feynman had been my teacher I think things would have turned out quite differently. No matter. I am far more curious now about everything than I ever dreamed of being back then.
Quotes and notes curated by his daughter, there is a lot of good stuff here. The curation tells its own story as will my selected highlights. From a book of quotes, best get to noting what I found notable during the read, with the section headings chosen by Michelle (any comments of mine in italics following):
Youth
I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
– What Do You Care What Other People Think?, p. 14
Family
[On his son:] He’s a lot like me, so at least I’ve passed on this idea that everything is interesting to at least one other person. Of course, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, you see?
– Omni interview, February 1979
I like the precision of "to at least one other person"...
Autobiographical
[On philosophers:] It isn’t the philosophy that gets me, it’s the pomposity. If they’d just laugh at themselves!
– Omni interview, February 1979 (The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, p. 195)
Love it!
Perhaps it is just that I enjoy being peculiar.
– Letter to Dr. Detlev W. Bronk and the National Academy of Sciences, August 1961 (Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track, p. 108)
Perhaps I do as well
You ask me on what I think about life, etc., as if I had some wisdom. Maybe, by accident, I do — of course I don’t know — all I know is I have opinions.
– Letter to Mr. V. A. Van Der Hyde, July 1986 (Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track, p. 413)
It turned out that the notes I took at conferences were never very useful for anything, and I don’t take much notes at conferences any more.
- Interview with Charles Weiner, February 4, 1966 (Niels Bohr Library and Archives with the Center for the History of Physics)
This! I discovered that years ago when I tried looking at some of my notes from conferences. Not very useful.
Nature
[On the laws of gravitation:] The only applications of the knowledge of the law that I can think of are in geophysical prospecting, in predicting the tides, and nowadays,
more modernly, in working out the motions of the satellites and planet probes that we send up, and so on; and finally, also modernly, to calculate the predictions of the planets’ positions, which have great utility for astrologists who publish their predictions in horoscopes in the magazines. It is a strange world we live in — that all the new advances in understanding are used only to continue the nonsense which has existed for 2,000 years.
– The Character of Physical Law, p. 27
Oh, snap.
Nature of Science
Physics is not mathematics, and mathematics is not physics. One helps the other. But in physics you have to have an understanding of the connection of words with the
real world. It is necessary at the end to translate what you have figured out into English, into the world, into the blocks of copper and glass that you are going to do the experiments with. Only in that way can you find out whether the consequences are true.
– The Character of Physical Law, p. 55
Science is only useful if it tells you about some experiment that has not been done; it is no good if it only tells you what just went on.
– The Character of Physical Law, p. 164
Curiosity and Discovery
The way I think of what we’re doing is, we’re exploring — we’re trying to find out as much as we can about the world. People say to me, “Are you looking for the ultimate laws of physics?” No, I’m not. I’m just looking to find out more about the world. If it turns out there is a simple ultimate law which explains everything, so be it; that would be very nice to discover. If it turns out it’s like an onion, with millions of layers, and we’re sick and tired of looking at the layers, then that’s the way it is. But whatever it comes out, it’s nature, and she’s going to come out the way she is! Therefore when we go investigate it we shouldn’t predecide what it is we’re going to find, except to find out more.
– BBC, “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out,” 1981
"we shouldn’t predecide"...so simple, and yet so missing sometimes
How Physicists Think
The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language. The desire is to have the idea clearly communicated to the other person. It is only
necessary to be precise when there is some doubt as to the meaning of a phrase, and then the precision should be put in the place where the doubt exists. It is really quite impossible to say anything with absolute precision, unless that thing is so abstracted from the real world as to not represent any real thing.
– “New Textbooks for the ‘New’ Mathematics,” Engineering and Science 28, no. 6 (March 1965)
Science and Society
Who are the witch doctors? Psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, of course. If you look at all of the complicated ideas that they have developed in an infinitesimal amount of time, if you compare to any other of the sciences how long it takes to get one idea after the other. If you consider all the structures and inventions and complicated things, the ids and the egos, the tensions and the forces, and the pushes and the pulls, I tell you they can’t all be there. It’s too much for one brain or a few brains to have cooked up in such a short time.
– “The Unscientific Age,” John Danz Lecture Series, 1963
I believe that the science has remained irrelevant because we wait until somebody asks us questions or until we are invited to give a speech on Einstein’s theory to people who don’t understand Newtonian mechanics, but we never are invited to give an attack on faith-healing or on astrology on what is the scientific view of astrology today.
– Galileo Symposium, “What Is and What Should Be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society,” September 1964
Until science eventually took it on itself, but it didn’t matter.
Mathematics
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. C. P. Snow talked about two cultures. I
really think that those two cultures separate people who have and people who have not had this experience of understanding mathematics well enough to appreciate nature once.
– The Character of Physical Law, p. 58
Politics
No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated. Neither may a
government determine the aesthetic value of artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literary or artistic expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to further adventure and the development of the human race.
– “The Uncertainty of Values,” John Danz Lecture Series, 1963
The other thing that gives a scientific man the creeps in the world today are the methods of choosing leaders — in every nation. Today, for example, in the United States, the two political parties have decided to employ public relations men, that is, advertising men, who are trained in the necessary methods of telling the truth and lying in order to develop a product. This wasn’t the original idea. They are supposed to discuss situations and not just make up slogans. It’s true, if you look in history, however, that choosing political leaders in the United States has been on many different occasions based on slogans.
– Galileo Symposium, “What Is and What Should Be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society,” September 1964
Education and Teaching
I finally figured out a way to test whether you have taught an idea or you have only taught a definition. Test it this way: You say, “Without using the new word which you have just learned, try to rephrase what you have just learned in your own language.”
– National Science Teachers Association Fourteenth Convention lecture, “What Is Science?” April 1966
The Future
People in the past, in the nightmare of their times, had dreams for the future. And now that the future has materialized, we see that in many ways the dreams have been surpassed, but in still more ways there are many of our dreams of today which are very much the dreams of people of the past.
– Galileo Symposium, “What Is and What Should Be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society,” September 1964
May 19, 2019
Che Feynman fosse un genio del suo campo e avesse il dono di una una ironia e di un senso dell’umorismo non comuni è cosa nota.
Ma non era Groucho Marx e, francamente, non riesco a trovare intenti che non siano commerciali nel voler estrapolare dall’enorme mole di scritti, interviste e registrazioni audio del Nostro, questo ripetitivo almanacco di battute, spesso tutt'altro che "memorabili".
Ma non era Groucho Marx e, francamente, non riesco a trovare intenti che non siano commerciali nel voler estrapolare dall’enorme mole di scritti, interviste e registrazioni audio del Nostro, questo ripetitivo almanacco di battute, spesso tutt'altro che "memorabili".
May 21, 2018
What strikes one most clearly regarding the quotations in this book painstakingly compiled by this Nobel-winning physicist’s daughter, Michelle Feynman, from “his many published works, his personal papers that occupy 14 file drawers, and dozens of hours of recorded lectures,” is the accessibility of Richard P. Feynman’s thought, whether it be on a personal matter, such as youth, family and love, or the more intellectually challenging aspects of the quantum world and science and society.
The cogency of Feynman’s profound understanding of the fundamental rules that govern and underpin the universe, as encapsulated in his own writings and lectures, is laid open to the reader here in a way that crystallizes many of his most meaningful sayings and expressions about the tangibility of life, how he lived it, and how he proposed those who sought his advice on the matter lived theirs. Full of sage advice, the many quotations in this collection are a perfect way to start learning more about the man himself, and the surrounding natural environment about which he so deeply cared. That he was able to elicit the trust of his many students, as well as of his multiple readers, is proof that, to his very core, Feynman was a man of integrity, who could see through to the heart and soul of his fellow man. The Quotable Feynman ends with quotations about this “magician of the highest calibre” (Kac), from a range of experts in the field of physics and elsewhere that reveal the high status that Feynman held among his peers.
In addition to the approximately 500 quotations included in The Quotable Feynman, several of which have not previously appeared in print, a chronology is given of the highlights in Feynman’s life (1918―1988). Each chapter is headed by a black-and-white photograph of Feynman, from boyhood to his older years, just as he was, ever erect and dignified. Following on several pages of acknowledgements and sources, all of which are meticulously detailed, comes a nine-page index that is both illuminating and thorough.
The Quotable Feynman should not only appeal to the scholar, or to fellow physicists, but to all those who take a lively interest in the surrounding universe, and in its underlying laws and precepts.
The cogency of Feynman’s profound understanding of the fundamental rules that govern and underpin the universe, as encapsulated in his own writings and lectures, is laid open to the reader here in a way that crystallizes many of his most meaningful sayings and expressions about the tangibility of life, how he lived it, and how he proposed those who sought his advice on the matter lived theirs. Full of sage advice, the many quotations in this collection are a perfect way to start learning more about the man himself, and the surrounding natural environment about which he so deeply cared. That he was able to elicit the trust of his many students, as well as of his multiple readers, is proof that, to his very core, Feynman was a man of integrity, who could see through to the heart and soul of his fellow man. The Quotable Feynman ends with quotations about this “magician of the highest calibre” (Kac), from a range of experts in the field of physics and elsewhere that reveal the high status that Feynman held among his peers.
In addition to the approximately 500 quotations included in The Quotable Feynman, several of which have not previously appeared in print, a chronology is given of the highlights in Feynman’s life (1918―1988). Each chapter is headed by a black-and-white photograph of Feynman, from boyhood to his older years, just as he was, ever erect and dignified. Following on several pages of acknowledgements and sources, all of which are meticulously detailed, comes a nine-page index that is both illuminating and thorough.
The Quotable Feynman should not only appeal to the scholar, or to fellow physicists, but to all those who take a lively interest in the surrounding universe, and in its underlying laws and precepts.
October 21, 2021
Yet another book that I couldn’t remember why I asked for it in the first place. But me being me I read the whole thing anyhow. A few quotes caught my eye.
Some I liked because they agreed with my thinking about modern physics, which (IMHO) has become too theoretical, too mathematical, not experimental enough. These are from Feynman’s (1965) The Character of Physical Law:
“Physics is not mathematics, and mathematics is not physics.” (p. 55)
“It doesn’t make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is – if it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong.” (p. 156)
This next made me think of the arguments lawyers make about the “science” concerning corporate poisoning of the environment, and whether one can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt (a standard we apply nowhere else) that companies are responsible for their effects on humans:
“It is scientific only to say what is likely and what is less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and the impossible.” (BBC, “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out,” 1981)
And this one, just because I liked it:
“A guy came into my room and found me leaning out of a wide-open window in the dead of winter, holding a pot in one hand and stirring with the other. I was curious as to whether Jello would coagulate if you kept it moving all the time.” What Do You Care What Other People Think?, p. 56
Four quotes in four hundred pages. Still, I like to dig up nice quotes.
Some I liked because they agreed with my thinking about modern physics, which (IMHO) has become too theoretical, too mathematical, not experimental enough. These are from Feynman’s (1965) The Character of Physical Law:
“Physics is not mathematics, and mathematics is not physics.” (p. 55)
“It doesn’t make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is – if it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong.” (p. 156)
This next made me think of the arguments lawyers make about the “science” concerning corporate poisoning of the environment, and whether one can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt (a standard we apply nowhere else) that companies are responsible for their effects on humans:
“It is scientific only to say what is likely and what is less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and the impossible.” (BBC, “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out,” 1981)
And this one, just because I liked it:
“A guy came into my room and found me leaning out of a wide-open window in the dead of winter, holding a pot in one hand and stirring with the other. I was curious as to whether Jello would coagulate if you kept it moving all the time.” What Do You Care What Other People Think?, p. 56
Four quotes in four hundred pages. Still, I like to dig up nice quotes.
February 17, 2020
Tarzı nedeniyle kesinlikle okuması kolay bir kitap değil. 2019'da okumaya başlayıp, arada kısa bir ara verip, ancak 2020'de bitirebildim. Fakat bir dahinin iç dünyasına çok güzel ışık tutuyor. Kızı Michelle Feynman çok başarılı bir iş çıkarmış. Richard P. Feynman ile ilgili, onun yazdığı ya da onun hakkında yazılan kitaplar ile ilgili kitaplığımı genişleteceğim kesin.
Ayrıca bu kitap, bugüne kadar en fazla kırpıntı topladığım kitap oldu. En beğendiklerimden birini bırakıp çıkayım;
"Kuramsal fiziğin en büyük ve önemli araçlarından biri çöp sepetidir."
- Bilimin Geleceği söyleşisi.
Ayrıca bu kitap, bugüne kadar en fazla kırpıntı topladığım kitap oldu. En beğendiklerimden birini bırakıp çıkayım;
"Kuramsal fiziğin en büyük ve önemli araçlarından biri çöp sepetidir."
- Bilimin Geleceği söyleşisi.
August 12, 2017
Richard Feynman gibi bir fizikçinin,biliminsanının ve entellektüelin sözlerini okumak,onun dünya,bilim ve evren hakkındaki düşüncelerini öğrenmek harika bir deneyim. Richard Feynman sadece bir bilim insanı olarak yaşamıyor hayatını,sporsever,müziksever entellektüel bir kişilik olarak karşımıza çıkıyor.
Richard Feynman'ın fizik dünyasına kattığı şeyler yadsınamaz. Kendisinden öğreneceğimiz çok fazla şey olduğunu bu kitabı okuyup bir kez daha anlıyoruz.
Richard Feynman'ın fizik dünyasına kattığı şeyler yadsınamaz. Kendisinden öğreneceğimiz çok fazla şey olduğunu bu kitabı okuyup bir kez daha anlıyoruz.
June 12, 2024
Tengo alrededor de tres años siendo admiradora de Feynman sin ser científica. He leído varios de sus libros, he leído biografías y reseñas de su trabajo.
Me encontré este libro y aunque son fragmentos de anécdotas, dichos, frases y demás, me ha llenado de satisfacción. No cabe duda que era todo un personaje y que nos dejó un legado no nada más de su trabajo sino de su forma de pensar. Ojalá puedan leerlo 📚
Me encontré este libro y aunque son fragmentos de anécdotas, dichos, frases y demás, me ha llenado de satisfacción. No cabe duda que era todo un personaje y que nos dejó un legado no nada más de su trabajo sino de su forma de pensar. Ojalá puedan leerlo 📚
June 2, 2019
These short passages are warm, friendly reminders of Richard Feynman 's personality. His opinions about a wide variety of topics are represented. The quotes could have been organized better. For example, within each section those from the same source are not together, nor are the quotes in chronological order. There are also some typographical errors that should have been corrected.
October 15, 2020
Not an easy read, and it's definitely not a good book to read it once and throw it. You must turn sometimes and choose random quotes, just to see the genius himself. This book, well, I don't recommend it if you're not familiar with Feynman. But if you are familiar with him, definitely check it out
October 16, 2020
Una maravilla de libro del que posiblemente sea el físico del siglo XX. No soy fan de las biografías, y aunque no lo es como tal, si todas fueran así seria mucho mejor. De lo mejor que he leído este año
February 1, 2019
The best teacher I never had.. I feel very honorful for living at least during the 8 years of time scale he was alive. I still remember the challenger tragedy however I don't remember him as being the scientist back in the stage uncovering the real cause. But I feel very lucky that i was alive during when Richard Feynman was on this earth. Half of What I read in this book, i have already read or watched before, however it is a very nice book to have in the library for collecting all these little bits and pieces..
January 4, 2020
Consiste en una recopilación demasiado extensa de frases, no es muy entretenido, aunque es un encuentro íntimo con el gran feynman.
October 8, 2017
"Se vai nella stessa direzione degli altri hai un esercito di persone da superare". (p. 63)
"Le forme più alte della conoscenza sono la risata e la compassione." (p. 112)
"Uno dei maggiori e più importanti strumenti della fisica teorica è il cestino della carta straccia." (p. 114)
"Bisogna innamorarsi di una teoria e, come per una donna, questo è possibile solo se non la si capisce completamente." (p. 123)
"Si vive una volta sola: uno fa tutti i suoi errori, impara che cosa non fare, e a quel punto è finita." (p. 189)
"Dopo tutto, sono nato senza sapere nulla e ho avuto solo poco tempo per cercare di porvi rimedio qua e là." (p. 335)
"Le forme più alte della conoscenza sono la risata e la compassione." (p. 112)
"Uno dei maggiori e più importanti strumenti della fisica teorica è il cestino della carta straccia." (p. 114)
"Bisogna innamorarsi di una teoria e, come per una donna, questo è possibile solo se non la si capisce completamente." (p. 123)
"Si vive una volta sola: uno fa tutti i suoi errori, impara che cosa non fare, e a quel punto è finita." (p. 189)
"Dopo tutto, sono nato senza sapere nulla e ho avuto solo poco tempo per cercare di porvi rimedio qua e là." (p. 335)
March 27, 2016
Should have expected a collection of quotes, but did not, and was rather disappointed. In comparison with the context-rich quotations of The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman which lent lessons and idealisms to be observed, these disjointed and briefly organised (by themes of family and whatnot) quotes do not give justice to Feynman.
May 27, 2016
I have several books about physicist Richard Feynman, ranging from his lectures on physics to more biographical or popular works like this collection by his daughter. I have only one sentence. I love every bit of them. And keep trying to learn and investigate more. As I imagine Richard Feynman would say, there are always more marvels to try to really understand.
December 12, 2015
I received a copy of this from goodreads.com - Wonderfully witty & logical at the same time. This work really shows a core part of his persona!
November 4, 2015
I received a promotional readers' copy via the website goodreads.com - quotes are so wonderful at capturing the oft-lost insight to a mind.
February 9, 2018
3.5 stars
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