Quotes By Enrico Fermi, The Great Physicist on world peace, humanity.

Experimental confirmation of a prediction is merely a measurement. An experiment disproving a prediction is a discovery. When asked what he meant by a miracle, oh, anything with a probability of less than 20%. It is not good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge. Before I came here I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture I am still confused, but on a higher level. Never underestimate the joy people derive from hearing something they already know. Whereas everybody, humans could theoretically colonize a 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? An experiment disproving a prediction is discovery. Young man, if I could remember the names of these particles, I would have been a botanist. I remember my friend Johnny Van Neumann used to say, with four parameters I can fit an elephant and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk. 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. It is not say in the Bible that all laws of nature are expressible linearly. If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist. Whatever nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge. I hope it won't take long. 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. 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. When asked what characteristics Nobel Prize winning physicists had in common, I cannot think of a single one, not even intelligence.