“I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”

— Richard Feynman, "The Making of a Scientist," in What Do You Care What Other People Think?, 1988

About Richard Feynman

1918 – 1988

American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate (1965).

“One has to have the imagination to think of something that has never been seen before, never been heard of before.”

“The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.”

“Scientific knowledge is an enabling power to do either good or bad — but it does not carry instructions on how to use it.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”