A scientist's aim in a discussion with his colleagues is not to persuade, but to clarify.

In science it is not enough to think of an important problem on which to work. It is also necessary to know the means which could be used to investigate the problem.

If the thickness is larger than the critical value I can produce an explosion.

Those individuals who give moral considerations a much greater weight than considerations of expediency represent a comparatively small minority, five percent of the people perhaps. But, In spite of their numerical inferiority, they play a major role in our society because theirs is the voice of the conscience of society.

Speak to all men as you do to yourself, with no concern for the effect you make, so that you do not shut them out from your world lest in isolation the meaning of life slips out of sight and you lose the belief in the perfection of creation.

A man's clarity of judgment is never very good when you're involved, and as you grow older, and as you grow more involved, your clarity of judgement suffers.

I'm all in favor of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius.

Don't lie if you don't have to.

A great power imposes the obligation of exercising restraint, and we did not live up to this obligation. I think this affected many of the scientists in a subtle sense, and it diminished their desire to continue to work on the bomb.

If you want to succeed in the world, you don't have to be much cleverer than other people. You just have to be one day earlier.

Science is progressing at such a rapid rate that when you make a prediction and think you are ahead of your time by 100 years you may be ahead of your time by 10 at most.

Do your work for six years but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become.

Three stages of truth for scientists: It's not true. If it is true, it's not very important. We knew it all along.

I am thinking of keeping a diary, not with the intend to publish it, merely to record the facts for the information of God, in case God does not know my version of the facts.

The most important step in getting a job done is the recognition of the problem. Once I recognize a problem I usually can think of someone who can work it out better than I could.