When a scientist doesn't know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty - some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain.
Richard P. FeynmanTo test whether you have learned an idea or a definition, rephrase what you just learned without using the new word.
Richard P. FeynmanTo decide upon the answer is not scientific. In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar ajar only.
Richard P. FeynmanIf I say [electrons] behave like particles I give the wrong impression; also if I say they behave like waves. They behave in their own inimitable way, which technically could be called a quantum mechanical way. They behave in a way that is like nothing that you have seen before.
Richard P. FeynmanFor those who want some proof that physicists are human, the proof is in the idiocy of all the different units which they use for measuring energy.
Richard P. FeynmanMy friends and I had taken dancing lessons, although none of us would ever admit it. In those depression days, a friend of my mother was trying to make a living by teaching dancing in the evening, in an upstairs dance studio. There was a back door to the place, and she arranged it so the young men could come up through the back way without being seen.
Richard P. Feynman