---
title: "1 Physics 1920S Quotes By J. Robert Oppenheimer"
description: "1 Physics 1920S quotes by J. Robert Oppenheimer. Plus more from J. Robert Oppenheimer and more Physics 1920S sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34e/j-robert-oppenheimer-6978_bohr_about-the-great-synthesis-of-atomic-phys_427709.jpg"
---

> [ \[About the great synthesis of atomic physics in the 1920s:\] It was a heroic time. It was not the doing of any one man; it involved the collaboration of scores of scientists from many different lands. But from the first… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/about-the-great-synthesis-of-atomic-physics-in-the-1920s-it-was-a/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34e/j-robert-oppenheimer-6978_bohr_about-the-great-synthesis-of-atomic-phys_427709.jpg)

## More by J. Robert Oppenheimer

> [In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/in-some-sort-of-crude-sense-which-no-vulgarity-no-humor-no/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/discovery-follows-discovery-each-both-raising-and-answering-questions/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [There are no secrets about the world of nature. There are secrets about the thoughts and intentions of men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/there-are-no-secrets-about-the-world-of-nature-there-are-secrets/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [It is proper to the role of the scientist that he not merely find new truth and communicate it to his fellows, but that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/it-is-proper-to-the-role-of-the-scientist-that-he-not-merely-find-new/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [To try to be happy is to try to build a machine with no other specification than that it shall run noiselessly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/to-try-to-be-happy-is-to-try-to-build-a-machine-with-no-other/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/we-knew-the-world-would-not-be-the-same-a-few-people-laughed-a-few/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [We hunger for nobility: the rare words and acts that harmonize simplicity and truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/we-hunger-for-nobility-the-rare-words-and-acts-that-harmonize/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [I saw what the Depression was doing to my students. Often they could get no jobs, or jobs which were wholly inadequate. And through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/i-saw-what-the-depression-was-doing-to-my-students-often-they-could/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [This world of ours is a new world, in which the unit of knowledge, the nature of human communities, the order of society, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/this-world-of-ours-is-a-new-world-in-which-the-unit-of-knowledge-the/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [My childhood did not prepare me for the fact that the world is full of cruel and bitter things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/my-childhood-did-not-prepare-me-for-the-fact-that-the-world-is-full/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [You can certainly destroy enough of humanity so that only the greatest act of faith can persuade you that what's left will be human.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/you-can-certainly-destroy-enough-of-humanity-so-that-only-the/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [In the spring of 1936, I was introduced by friends to Jean Tatlock. In the autumn, I began to court her. We were at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/in-the-spring-of-1936-i-was-introduced-by-friends-to-jean-tatlock-in/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [When we deny the EVIL within ourselves, we dehumanize ourselves, and we deprive ourselves not only of our own destiny but of any possibility…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/when-we-deny-the-evil-within-ourselves-we-dehumanize-ourselves-and-we/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [Pragmatism is an intellectually safe but ultimately sterile philosophy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/pragmatism-is-an-intellectually-safe-but-ultimately-sterile-philosophy/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

> [“Knowledge cannot be pursued without morality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/knowledge-cannot-be-pursued-without-morality/)

[J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/)

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