I don't mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is the language I don't understand.

I am only a physicist with nothing material to show for my labours. I have never even seen the ionosphere, although I have worked on the subject for thirty years. That does show how lucky people can be. If there had been no ionosphere I would not have been standing here this morning.

No scientific subject has ever aroused quite the same mixture of hopes and fears [as atomic energy].

I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill.

[T]he history of science has proved that fundamental research is the lifeblood of individual progress and that the ideas that lead to spectacular advances spring from it.

I don't mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is the language I don't understand.