Quote #12

There is one feature I notice that is generally missing in 'cargo cult science'... It's a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty - a kind of leaning over backwards... For example, if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid - not only what you think is right about it... Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them.

More from Richard Feynman

  1. You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about …
  2. All experiments in psychology are not of this [cargo cult] type, however. For example there have been many experiments running rats through…
  3. You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you…
  4. If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize.
  5. The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. ... No problem is…
  6. I took this stuff I got out of your [O-ring] seal and I put it in ice water, and I discovered that when you put some pressure on it for a w…
  7. The chance is high that the truth lies in the fashionable direction. But, on the off chance that it is in another direction - a direction o…
  8. When playing Russian roulette the fact that the first shot got off safely is little comfort for the next.

All Richard Feynman quotes