“It is impossible, by the way, when picking one example of anything, to avoid picking one which is atypical in some sense.”

— Richard Feynman, book The Character of Physical Law

Source: The Character of Physical Law (1965), chapter 1, “The Law of Gravitation,” p. 27: video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mhkYbznBk&t=37m16s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is impossible, by the way, when picking one example of anything, to avoid picking one which is atypical in some sens…" by Richard Feynman?

Richard Feynman181

American theoretical physicist 1918–1988

Related quotes

“Solitude would be an ideal state if one were able to pick the people one avoids.”

Karl Kraus (1874–1936) Czech playwright and publicist

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Perl is designed to give you several ways to do anything, so consider picking the most readable one.”

Larry Wall (1954) American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl

In the perl man page.
Documentation

“One way to pick a future is to believe it’s inevitable.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: One

“One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

National Prayer Breakfast (2006)
Context: One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.
For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land... and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash... in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment...
I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV.
Even though I was a believer.
Perhaps because I was a believer.