I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and adapting throughout life.
Richard P. Feynman reflects on the journey of knowledge and the finite time we have to seek understanding and make changes. He acknowledges that life begins with ignorance, but it is our responsibility to pursue knowledge, however limited our time may be to do so.
In practice
In a motivational speech about the importance of lifelong learning.
The philosophical question before us is, when we make an observation of our track in the past, does the result of our observation become real in the same sense that the final state would be defined if an outside observer were to make the observation?
We seem gradually to be groping toward an understanding of the world of subatomic particles, but we really do not know how far we have yet to go in this task.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
It has not yet become obvious to me that there's no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem.
For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?
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.
We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety beclouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read.
Compassion without wisdom is dangerous. It's what enables people to support the 'underdog,' even if the underdog is evil
...when we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.
Anybody who has something sensible or worthwhile to say should be able to say it calmly and soberly, relying on the words themselves to convey his meaning, without resorting to yelling.
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-- Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind--
nobody means to get carried away in mediocrity, but it happens, it happens unless you think about everything you do, unless you make every choice the best one you know how to make.
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