The greatest of the changes that science has brought is the acuity of change; the greatest novelty the extent of novelty.
J. Robert OppenheimerWe do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert.
J. Robert OppenheimerThe atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country.
J. Robert OppenheimerSometimes the answer to fear does not lie in trying to explain away the causes, sometimes the answer lies in courage.
J. Robert OppenheimerIn the material sciences these are and have been, and are most surely likely to continue to be heroic days.
J. Robert OppenheimerBertrand 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'.
J. Robert Oppenheimer