Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the complexity of human errors and the strength of those who take responsibility for them.
J. Robert Oppenheimer's quote reflects the idea that recognizing and correcting one's mistakes is a significant undertaking that requires time, introspection, and courage. It suggests that a person who is willing to engage deeply with their errors and work diligently over years to rectify them demonstrates profound character and resilience, distinguishing them as exceptional individuals.
In practice
During a graduation speech focused on personal growth and accountability.
Bertrand Russell had given a talk on the then new quantum mechanics, of whose wonders he was most appreciative. He spoke hard and earnestly in the New Lecture Hall. And when he was done, Professor Whitehead, who presided, thanked him for his efforts, and not least for 'leaving the vast darkness of the subject unobscured'.
There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.
It is perfectly obvious that the whole world is going to hell. The only possible chance that it might not is that we do not attempt to prevent it from doing so.
Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. (quoting the Bhagavad-Gita after witnessing the first Nuclear explosion.)
[About the great synthesis of atomic physics in the 1920s:] It was a heroic time. It was not the doing of any one man; it involved the collaboration of scores of scientists from many different lands. But from the first to last the deeply creative, subtle and critical spirit of Niels Bohr guided, restrained, deepened and finally transmuted the enterprise.
'It worked.' (said after witnessing the first atomic detonation).
Compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others.
Now, when anything 'bad' happens, I remember that everything that ever happens to me has within it the seeds of something better. I look for the upside rather than the downside. I ask myself, 'Where's the greater benefit in this event?'
Would you sell both your eyes for a million dollars...or your two legs...or your hands...or your hearing? Add up what you do have, and you'll find you won't sell them for all the gold in the world. The best things in life are yours, if you can appreciate them.
Doing what has never been done before is intellectually seductive, whether or not we deem it practical.
I do know that when I am 60, I should be attempting to achieve different personal goals than those which had priority at age 20.
Build the raft of meditation and self-discipline, to carry you across the river. There will be no ocean, and no rising tides to stop you; this is how comfortable your path shall be.
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