Freeman Dyson

Physics British-American 1923 – 2020 464 quotes

Unified Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga's QED approaches

Quotes by Freeman Dyson

In the world of the future, the most important intellectual activity will be the design of games.

Infinite in All Directions

The universe shows evidence of the workings of a mind, but it is a mind of a different kind from our own.

Attributed

The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the lifeblood of the planet.

NYT Op-Ed 'Heretical Thoughts' 2008

The climate is an awfully complicated system, and we don't understand it at all.

Interview 2009

I think it's much more likely that the changes in climate are due to natural causes than to human activity.

TED Talk 2007

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

Disturbing the Universe

The problem of the origin of life is the problem of the origin of organization.

Origins of Life 1985

The beauty of nature lies in its details; the message of nature lies in its principles.

Infinite in All Directions

We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages.

Paraphrasing Einstein

The purpose of thinking about the future is not to predict it but to prepare for it.

Imagined Worlds

It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked.

Interview

The history of science is full of discoveries that were made by accident, by people who were looking for something else.

The Scientist as Rebel

The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.

Quoting J.B.S. Haldane

The division of science into separate disciplines is a historical accident, not a logical necessity.

The Scientist as Rebel

The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made.

Attributed

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'

Attributed, often to Isaac Asimov

I am a heretic. The world always needs heretics to challenge the prevailing orthodoxies.

NYT Op-Ed 'Heretical Thoughts' 2008

The human species will never be wiped out by a natural catastrophe. If we are wiped out, it will be by our own hands.

Attributed

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves.

Disturbing the Universe

In mathematics, as in physics, so much depends on looking at the same thing from different points of view.

Attributed