Enrico Fermi Quotes

#1. Such a weapon goes far beyond any military objective and enters the range of very great natural catastrophes. By its very nature it cannot be confined to a military objective but becomes a weapon which in practical effect is almost one of genocide

Enrico Fermi

#2. If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist

Enrico Fermi

#3. An experiment disproving a prediction is discovery.

Enrico Fermi

#4. When asked what he meant by a miracle: Oh, anything with a probability of less than 20%.

Enrico Fermi

#5. It does not say in the Bible that all laws of nature are expressible linearly!

Enrico Fermi

#6. Never underestimate the joy people derive from hearing something they already know.

Enrico Fermi

#7. Where is everybody? Humans could theoretically colonize the galaxy in a million years or so, and if they could, astronauts from older civilizations could do the same. So why haven't they come to Earth?

Enrico Fermi

#8. I hope it won't take long.

Enrico Fermi

#9. Experimental confirmation of a prediction is merely a measurement. An experiment disproving a prediction is a discovery.

Enrico Fermi

#10. Whatever Nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge.

Enrico Fermi

#11. I remember my friend Johnny von Neumann used to say, 'with four parameters I can fit an elephant and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk.'

Enrico Fermi

#12. It is clear that the use of such a weapon cannot be justified on any ethical ground which gives a human being a certain individuality and dignity even if he happens to be a resident of an enemy country.

Enrico Fermi

#13. There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery

Enrico Fermi

#14. Young man, if I could remember the names of these particles, I would have been a botanist.

Enrico Fermi

#15. Before I came here, I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture, I am still confused
but on a higher level.

Enrico Fermi

#16. Some people stick with the traditional, feeling struck by the epic beauty or blown away by the insane scale of the universe. Personally, I go for the old existential meltdown followed by acting weird for the next half hour. But everyone feels something.

Enrico Fermi

#17. The fundamental point in fabricating a chain reacting machine is of course to see to it that each fission produces a certain number of neutrons and some of these neutrons will again produce fission.

Enrico Fermi