Julius Robert Oppenheimer Quotes on Science and Life

There’s a lot of wisdom and perspective that these Julius Robert Oppenheimer quotes can offer.

More commonly referred to as J. Robert Oppenheimer, he’s known for being the father of the atomic bomb.

He was an American physicist and professor who dedicated his life to science and learning.

Oppenheimer was driven by wanting to solve mysteries in the scientific world.

The knowledge that he acquired led him to want to learn new and different things.

He was eventually tasked with assembling a team of brilliant scientists that would work together to build the atomic bomb that changed warfare for good.

These Julius Robert Oppenheimer quotes show his thoughts on life, people, and science.

Don’t forget to also check out these science quotes from famous scientists about life and death.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration.

Check out our entire collection of motivational quotes here. 

Julius Robert Oppenheimer quotes about physics and science

1. “There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

2. “The history of science is rich in example of the fruitfulness of bringing two sets of techniques, two sets of ideas, developed in separate contexts for the pursuit of new truth, into touch with one another.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

3. “If you are a scientist you believe that it is good to find out how the world works; that it is good to find out what the realities are; that it is good to turn over to mankind at large the greatest possible power to control the world and to deal with it according to its lights and values.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

4. “It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because it was possible to find them.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

5. “Both the man of science and the man of action live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

6. “The greatest of the changes that science has brought is the acuity of change; the greatest novelty the extent of novelty.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

7. “Science starts with preconception, with the common culture, and with common sense. It moves on to observation, is marked by the discovery of paradox, and is then concerned with the correction of preconception. It moves then to use these corrections for the designing of further observation and for more refined experiments. And as it moves along this course the nature of the evidence and experience that nourish it becomes more and more unfamiliar; it is not just the language that is strange [to common culture].” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

8. “There are no secrets about the world of nature. There are secrets about the thoughts and intentions of men.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

9. “I need physics more than friends.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

10. “The great testimony of history shows how often, in fact, the development of science has emerged in response to technological and even economic needs, and how in the economy of social effort, science, even of the most abstract and recondite kind, pays for itself again and again in providing the basis for radically new technological developments.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

11. “It is proper to the role of the scientists that he does not merely find new truth and communicate it to this fellows, but that he teaches, that he tries to bring the most honest and intelligible account of new knowledge to all who will try to learn.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

Julius Robert Oppenheimer quotes about learning

12. “There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

13. “Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

14. “There is something irreversible about acquiring knowledge; and the simulation of the search for it differs in a most profound way from the reality.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

15. “Both the man of science and the man of art live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it; both always, as to the measure of their creation, have had to do with the harmonization of what is new with what is familiar, with the balance between novelty and synthesis, with the struggle to make partial order in total chaos.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

16. “Knowledge cannot be pursued without morality.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

17. “We know too much for one man to know too much.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

18. “Today, it is not only that our kings do not know mathematics, but our philosophers do not know mathematics and—to go a step further—our mathematicians do not know mathematics.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

19. “The true scientist never loses the faculty of amusement. It is the essence of his being.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

20. “Science is not everything, but science is very beautiful.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

21. “Maybe General Groves was right. Maybe we should just banish thinking forever.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

22. “No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he knows.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

23. “In a free world, if it is to remain free, we must maintain, with our lives if need be, but surely by our lives, the opportunity for a man to learn anything.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

Julius Robert Oppenheimer quotes about people

24. “We 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 enquire. We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption. We know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

25. “To try to be happy is to try to build a machine with no other specification than that it shall run noiselessly.” – Julius Robert Oppenheimer

What did you learn from these Julius Robert Oppenheimer quotes?

When it came to physics and science, Julius Robert had a brilliant mind.

However, there are also stories about how he struggled with his mental health.

He went through periods of depression and didn’t always care to spend time connecting with others.

In his quotes, he talks about the evil that people are capable of, which he had first-hand experience in as the father of the atomic bomb.

He loved science but knew that humans are capable of taking good things or neutral things and using them for bad.

Likely, this weighed heavily on him.

But his quest for learning and knowledge is one that we can all learn from.

What’s your biggest takeaway from these Julius Robert Oppenheimer quotes and sayings?

Do you have any other favorite quotes to add?

Tell us in the comment section below.