--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: 42 A few months after Nash got out…" description: "\"“42 A few months after Nash got out, Baumecker called the Institute for Advanced Study and asked to speak to Oppenheimer about whether Nash was now san..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/909/sylvia-nasar-29953_oppenheimer_42-a-few-months-after-nash-got-out-baume_586206.jpg" --- # 42 A few months after Nash got out, Baumecker called the… ![“42 A few months after Nash got out, Baumecker called the Institute for Advanced Study and asked to speak to Oppenheimer about whether Nash was now sane. Oppenheimer replied, “That’s something no one on earth can tell you, doctor.” quote by Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/909/sylvia-nasar-29953_oppenheimer_42-a-few-months-after-nash-got-out-baume_586206.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/909/sylvia-nasar-29953_oppenheimer_42-a-few-months-after-nash-got-out-baume_586206.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/909/sylvia-nasar-29953_oppenheimer_42-a-few-months-after-nash-got-out-baume_586206.jpg) > ““42 A few months after Nash got out, Baumecker called the Institute for Advanced Study and asked to speak to Oppenheimer about whether Nash was now sane. Oppenheimer replied, “That’s something no one on earth can tell you, doctor.”” [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even experts cannot definitively judge another’s sanity; some questions remain unknowable. **In simple terms:** We can’t always know if someone is sane. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty in evaluating others. Themes knowledge uncertainty psychology ethics Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - clinical assessment - friendship - academic collaboration - leadership decisions Key Concepts philosophy of mind epistemology Questions to Reflect On - When should you trust expert opinion? - How do you handle ambiguous mental health information? A Different Perspective Reliance on authority may obscure personal judgment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppenheimer/) ## Related quotes > [“The reason Dick 's physics was so hard for ordinary people to grasp was that he did not use equations. The usual theoretical physics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freeman-dyson/the-reason-dick-s-physics-was-so-hard-for-ordinary-people-to-grasp/) [Freeman Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freeman-dyson/) > [“…suffering can be a work of art. It can be made of buried and rising things, helpless and undiscovered, song of frustrated want, silence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-millet/suffering-can-be-a-work-of-art-it-can-be-made-of-buried-and-rising/) [Lydia Millet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-millet/) > [This climate surrounding me has reached Clive Oppenheimer. In practical terms he sees that I'm not interested in any sort of daredevil stunts, I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/this-climate-surrounding-me-has-reached-clive-oppenheimer-in/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [ Ten years ago in Antarctica shooting "Encounters at the End of the World," I met a very fine volcanologist from Cambridge University \[Clive Oppenheimer\]… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/ten-years-ago-in-antarctica-shooting-encounters-at-the-end-of-the/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sting/how-can-i-save-my-little-boy-from-oppenheimer-s-deadly-toy/) [Sting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sting/) > [The volcano itself wasn't that interesting, but the man who refused to be evacuated - the only one of 75,000 people - was what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/the-volcano-itself-wasn-t-that-interesting-but-the-man-who-refused-to/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [ The wonderful thing is that Clive \[Oppenheimer \] insisted on training his camera - his private camera - on me at one point. We… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/the-wonderful-thing-is-that-clive-oppenheimer-insisted-on-training/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [I think Oppenheimer Analysis had the most accessible material for commercial success. Martin Dupont, Deux, Linear Movement, Moderne and Stereo held a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-vasicka/i-think-oppenheimer-analysis-had-the-most-accessible-material-for/) [Veronica Vasicka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-vasicka/) > [“Beyond aspects of pain that are physical, thought Oppenheimer, sickness or injury or privation, beyond the so-called obvious, suffering can be a work of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-millet/beyond-aspects-of-pain-that-are-physical-thought-oppenheimer-sickness/) [Lydia Millet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-millet/) > [“It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rhodes/it-is-a-profound-and-necessary-truth-that-the-deep-things-in-science-2/) [Richard Rhodes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rhodes/) > [“Oppenheimer’s story also reminds us that our identity as a people remains intimately connected with the culture of things nuclear. “We have had the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kai-bird/oppenheimer-s-story-also-reminds-us-that-our-identity-as-a-people/) Kai Bird > [ “If you \[Robert Oppenheimer\] intend to mount heavy mathematical artillery again during your coming year in Europe, I would ask you not only not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-ehrenfest/if-you-robert-oppenheimer-intend-to-mount-heavy-mathematical/) [Paul Ehrenfest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-ehrenfest/) > [“Trinity’s witnesses responded just as those to Apollo 11 would, as J. Robert Oppenheimer remembered: "We knew the world would not be the same.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-nelson/trinity-s-witnesses-responded-just-as-those-to-apollo-11-would-as-j/) Craig Nelson > [“Groves, with his eye for sizing up people who could get things done, saw the deep ambition Oppenheimer covered with his surface charm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-wills/groves-with-his-eye-for-sizing-up-people-who-could-get-things-done/) [Garry Wills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-wills/) ## More by Sylvia Nasar > [“I've made the most important discovery of my life. It's only in the mysterious equation of love that any logic or reasons can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/i-ve-made-the-most-important-discovery-of-my-life-it-s-only-in-the/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“People look to the order of numbers when the world falls apart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/people-look-to-the-order-of-numbers-when-the-world-falls-apart/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“You are all my reasons.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/you-are-all-my-reasons/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [A profound dislike for merely absorbing knowledge and a compulsion to learn by doing are among the most reliable signs of genius.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/a-profound-dislike-for-merely-absorbing-knowledge-and-a-compulsion-to/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“Among the students, the Phantom was often held up as a cautionary figure: Anybody who was too much of a grind or who lacked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/among-the-students-the-phantom-was-often-held-up-as-a-cautionary/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [A profile, a look, a voice, can capture a heart in no time at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/a-profile-a-look-a-voice-can-capture-a-heart-in-no-time-at-all/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“It was the great Hungarian-born polymath John von Neumann who first recognized that social behavior could be analyzed as games.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/it-was-the-great-hungarian-born-polymath-john-von-neumann-who-first/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“I thought I could save a very worthwhile person.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/i-thought-i-could-save-a-very-worthwhile-person/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“Hey Nash! You scared?' 'Terrified,mortified,petrified...stupefied by you!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/hey-nash-you-scared-terrified-mortified-petrified-stupefied-by-you/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“several studies have since shown that basic military training during peacetime can precipitate schizophrenia in men with a hitherto unsuspected vulnerability to the illness.15”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/several-studies-have-since-shown-that-basic-military-training-during/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“...his condition in Roanoke is a strong testament that lassitude, indifference and the peculiarities of his thought were primarily the consequences of his illness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/his-condition-in-roanoke-is-a-strong-testament-that-lassitude/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“James Glass, a political scientist at the University of Maryland who has studied the delusions of schizophrenia, writes, “Delusion provides a certain, often unbreakable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/james-glass-a-political-scientist-at-the-university-of-maryland-who/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“RAND scientists tried to tell their wives that the decision whether to buy or not to buy a washing machine was an 'optimization problem'.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/rand-scientists-tried-to-tell-their-wives-that-the-decision-whether/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“Hopes of putting their sad history behind them was bound to be bittersweet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/hopes-of-putting-their-sad-history-behind-them-was-bound-to-be/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) > [“Delusion is not just fantasy but compulsion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-nasar/delusion-is-not-just-fantasy-but-compulsion/) [Sylvia Nasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) [Explore all 18 Sylvia Nasar quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-nasar/) ## More Oppenheimer quotes > [“The reason Dick 's physics was so hard for ordinary people to grasp was that he did not use equations. The usual theoretical physics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freeman-dyson/the-reason-dick-s-physics-was-so-hard-for-ordinary-people-to-grasp/) [Freeman Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freeman-dyson/) > [“Trinity’s witnesses responded just as those to Apollo 11 would, as J. Robert Oppenheimer remembered: "We knew the world would not be the same.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-nelson/trinity-s-witnesses-responded-just-as-those-to-apollo-11-would-as-j/) Craig Nelson > [ “If you \[Robert Oppenheimer\] intend to mount heavy mathematical artillery again during your coming year in Europe, I would ask you not only not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-ehrenfest/if-you-robert-oppenheimer-intend-to-mount-heavy-mathematical/) [Paul Ehrenfest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-ehrenfest/) > [“Oppenheimer’s story also reminds us that our identity as a people remains intimately connected with the culture of things nuclear. “We have had the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kai-bird/oppenheimer-s-story-also-reminds-us-that-our-identity-as-a-people/) Kai Bird > [“It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rhodes/it-is-a-profound-and-necessary-truth-that-the-deep-things-in-science-2/) [Richard Rhodes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rhodes/) > [“Beyond aspects of pain that are physical, thought Oppenheimer, sickness or injury or privation, beyond the so-called obvious, suffering can be a work of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-millet/beyond-aspects-of-pain-that-are-physical-thought-oppenheimer-sickness/) [Lydia Millet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-millet/) > [I think Oppenheimer Analysis had the most accessible material for commercial success. Martin Dupont, Deux, Linear Movement, Moderne and Stereo held a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-vasicka/i-think-oppenheimer-analysis-had-the-most-accessible-material-for/) [Veronica Vasicka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-vasicka/) > [ The wonderful thing is that Clive \[Oppenheimer \] insisted on training his camera - his private camera - on me at one point. We… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/the-wonderful-thing-is-that-clive-oppenheimer-insisted-on-training/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [The volcano itself wasn't that interesting, but the man who refused to be evacuated - the only one of 75,000 people - was what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/the-volcano-itself-wasn-t-that-interesting-but-the-man-who-refused-to/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sting/how-can-i-save-my-little-boy-from-oppenheimer-s-deadly-toy/) [Sting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sting/) > [ Ten years ago in Antarctica shooting "Encounters at the End of the World," I met a very fine volcanologist from Cambridge University \[Clive Oppenheimer\]… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/ten-years-ago-in-antarctica-shooting-encounters-at-the-end-of-the/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [This climate surrounding me has reached Clive Oppenheimer. In practical terms he sees that I'm not interested in any sort of daredevil stunts, I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/this-climate-surrounding-me-has-reached-clive-oppenheimer-in/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [“…suffering can be a work of art. It can be made of buried and rising things, helpless and undiscovered, song of frustrated want, silence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-millet/suffering-can-be-a-work-of-art-it-can-be-made-of-buried-and-rising/) [Lydia Millet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-millet/) > [“Groves, with his eye for sizing up people who could get things done, saw the deep ambition Oppenheimer covered with his surface charm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-wills/groves-with-his-eye-for-sizing-up-people-who-could-get-things-done/) [Garry Wills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-wills/) [Browse all 15 Oppenheimer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppenheimer/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“42 A few months after Nash got out, Baumecker called the Institute for Advanced Study and asked to speak to Oppenheimer about whether Nash was now sane. 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