The experience of seeing how our thought and our words and our ideas have been confined by the limitation of our experience is one which is salutary and is in a certain sense good for a man's morals as well as good for his pleasure. It seems to us [scientists] that this is an opening up of the human spirit , avoiding its provincialism and narrowness. J. Robert Oppenheimer
About This Quote

Albert Einstein, in his letter to Dr. Paul Ehrenfest, said, "The experience of seeing how our thought and our words and our ideas have been confined by the limitation of our experience is one which is salutary and is in a certain sense good for a man's morals as well as good for his pleasure. It seems to us [scientists] that this is an opening up of the human spirit , avoiding its provincialism and narrowness." This passage is quoted here because it captures well the attitude that Einstein carried throughout his life. He was not interested in local dogma or in preserving the status quo, but rather in the process of developing new theories and ideas. He was not so much interested in money or fame, but in making progress.

Source: The Flying Trapeze: Three Crises For Physicists

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