“Physics is always a gamble; it is a game of exploration. That’s the fun of it. We never know for sure what will happen. Sometimes, we theorists can anticipate, but nature is the final judge.”

— David Gross

"Physics is always a gamble" http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/nobel-laureate-david-gross-physics-is-always-a-gamble/article7383717.ece, an interview with David Gross by Shubashree Desikan, The Hindu (2015)

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David Gross6

American particle physicist and string theorist 1941

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“We all know the disappointments that come when we base anticipation on what we and other humans can deliver. God will never have a problem delivering!”

James MacDonald (1960) American pastor

Source: Always True (Moody, 2011), p. 89

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Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Book 2, chapter 4. Compare: "I say the very things that make the greatest Stir / An' the most interestin' things, are things that did n't occur", Sam Walter Foss, Things that did n't occur.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Henrietta Temple (1837)

“We always do what’s natural, only sometimes we shouldn’t do it.”

Alfred Bester book The Stars My Destination

Source: The Stars My Destination (1956), Chapter 6 (p. 98).

“What do we mean by “understanding” something? We can imagine that this complicated array of moving things which constitutes “the world” is something like a great chess game being played by the gods, and we are observers of the game. We do not know what the rules of the game are; all we are allowed to do is to watch the playing. Of course, if we watch long enough, we may eventually catch on to a few of the rules. The rules of the game are what we mean by fundamental physics.”

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Even if we knew every rule, however, we might not be able to understand why a particular move is made in the game, merely because it is too complicated and our minds are limited. If you play chess you must know that it is easy to learn all the rules, and yet it is often very hard to select the best move or to understand why a player moves as he does. So it is in nature, only much more so.
volume I; lecture 2, "Basic Physics"; section 2-1, "Introduction"; p. 2-1
The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964)