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Knowledge is of no real value if all you can tell me is what happened yesterday. It is necessary to tell what will happen tomorrow.
Richard Feynman The Meaning of It All · 1998

Scientific method Quotations

“Knowledge is of no real value if all you can tell me is what happened yesterday. It is necessary to tell what will happen tomorrow.”

Richard Feynman · The Meaning of It All, 1998 · Primary source

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”

Richard Feynman · Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, 1985 · Primary source

“But we must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.”

Marie Curie · The Discovery of Radium, 1921 · Primary source

“It is interesting that human relationships, if there is an independent way of judging truth, can become unargumentative.”

Richard Feynman · The Meaning of It All, 1998 · Primary source

“A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises is, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended is its area of applicability.”

Albert Einstein · Autobiographical Notes, 1949 · Primary source

“Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn a living at it. One should earn one’s living by work of which one is sure one is capable. Only when we do not have to be accountable to anyone can we find joy in scientific endeavor.”

Albert Einstein · Letter to E. Holzapfel, 1951 · Primary source

“There is no sense in calculating the probability or the chance that something happens after it happens.”

Richard Feynman · The Meaning of It All, 1998 · Primary source

“In science we must be interested in things, not in persons.”

Marie Curie · Madame Curie: A Biography, 1938 · Secondary source

“Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“By honest I don’t mean that you only tell what’s true. But you make clear the entire situation. You make clear all the information that is required for somebody else who is intelligent to make up their mind.”

Richard Feynman · The Meaning of It All, 1998 · Primary source

“We’ve learned from experience that the truth will come out. Other experimenters will repeat your experiment and find out whether you were wrong or right. Nature’s phenomena will agree or they’ll disagree with your theory. And, although you may gain some temporary fame and excitement, you will not gain a good reputation as a scientist if you haven’t tried to be very careful in this kind of work.”

Richard Feynman · Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, 1985 · Primary source

“Observation is the ultimate and final judge of the truth of an idea.”

Richard Feynman · The Meaning of It All, 1998 · Primary source

“Every scientific law, every scientific principle, every statement of the results of an observation is some kind of a summary which leaves out details.”

Richard Feynman · The Meaning of It All, 1998 · Primary source

“The only way to have real success in science, the field I’m familiar with, is to describe the evidence very carefully without regard to the way you feel it should be. If you have a theory, you must try to explain what’s good and what’s bad about it equally. In science, you learn a kind of standard integrity and honesty.”

Richard Feynman · What Do You Care What Other People Think?, 1986 · Primary source

“One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its propositions are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of all other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.”

Albert Einstein · Ideas and Opinions , 1954 · Primary source

“The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific truth.”

Richard Feynman · The Feynman Lectures on Physics, 1961-1964 · Primary source

“Development of Western science is based on two great achievements: the invention of the formal logical system (in Euclidean geometry) by the Greek philosophers, and the discovery of the possibility of finding out causal relationships by systematic experiment (Renaissance).”

Albert Einstein · Letter to J.S. Switzer, 1953 · Primary source

“Invert, always invert.”

Carl Jacobi · No reliable source

“Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Albert Einstein · No reliable source

Explore the subcategory

Scientific method

5 authors · 11 works · 37 themes · 76 tags
Authors
Albert Einstein Theoretical physicistLeonardo da Vinci Renaissance artist and inventorRichard Feynman Theoretical physicist
Works
Autobiographical Notes Albert Einstein · 1949Ideas and Opinions Albert Einstein · 1954The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci (translated by Jean Paul Richter) · 1888
Themes
Intellectual honestyPredictive powerKnowledge through testing
Tags
EvidenceScientific integrityObservationResearch ethics
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