Enrico Fermi Quotes

It does not say in the Bible that all laws of nature are expressible linearly!

Whatever Nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge.

I hope it won't take long.

It is not good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge.

Ignorance is never better than knowledge

An experiment disproving a prediction is discovery.

Never underestimate the joy people derive from hearing something they already know.

Experimental confirmation of a prediction is merely a measurement. An experiment disproving a prediction is a discovery.

One might be led to question whether the scientists acted wisely in presenting the statesmen of the world with this appalling problem. Actually there was no choice. Once basic knowledge is acquired, any attempt at preventing its fruition would be as futile as hoping to stop the earth from revolving around the sun.

There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.

The fact that no limits exist to the destructiveness of this weapon [the 'Super', i.e. the hydrogen bomb] makes its very existence and the knowledge of its construction a danger to humanity as a whole. It is necessarily an evil thing considered in any light. For these reasons, we believe it important for the President of the United States to tell the American public and the world what we think is wrong on fundamental ethical principles to initiate the development of such a weapon.

The fundamental point in fabricating a chain reacting machine is of course to see to it that each fission produces a certain number of neutrons and some of these neutrons will again produce fission.

Where is everybody? Humans could theoretically colonize the galaxy in a million years or so, and if they could, astronauts from older civilizations could do the same. So why haven't they come to Earth?

Young man, if I could remember the names of these particles, I would have been a botanist.

[on what characteristics Nobel prize winning physicists had in common] I cannot think of a single one, not even intelligence.

When asked what he meant by a miracle: Oh, anything with a probability of less than 20%.

I remember my friend Johnny von Neumann used to say, 'with four parameters I can fit an elephant and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk.'

Before I came here I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture I am still confused. But on a higher level.