We hunger for nobility: the rare words and acts that harmonize simplicity and truth.
J. Robert OppenheimerThe greatest of the changes that science has brought is the acuity of change; the greatest novelty the extent of novelty.
J. Robert OppenheimerOptimists think that this is the best of all possible worlds; pessimists fear they are right.
J. Robert OppenheimerScience starts with preconception, with the common culture, and with common sense. It moves on to observation, is marked by the discovery of paradox, and is then concerned with the correction of preconception. It moves then to use these corrections for the designing of further observation and for more refined experiment. And as it moves along this course the nature of the evidence and experience that nourish it becomes more and more unfamiliar; it is not just the language that is strange [to common culture].
J. Robert Oppenheimer