J. Robert Oppenheimer Quotes

Let us be content to work To do the things we can, and not presume To fret because it's little.

The world's not what I want it to be. But then no one ever said I had the right to design the world.

A moment of something between acceptance and resignation of one's smallness in the world.

You can't hold the record forever, and I know that. I'm not stupid.

I just want to be nominated; beggars can't be choosers.

Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.

I always want to be as good in the part as I possibly can. But I make no pretensions of being the greatest actor in the world.

No matter what happens, I'll never be the greatest cruiserweight. That title belongs to Holyfield.

At the end of the day, I know I'm not Superman.

I don't pretend to be perfect.

We can make ourselves whole only by accepting our partiality, by living within our limits, by being humans not by trying to be gods.

I have no power, and that's what's so humbling.

Stay low, stay quiet, keep it simple, don't expect too much, enjoy what you have.

I will never reach perfection.

From here on out, there's just reality. I think that's what maturity is: a stoic response to endless reality. But then, what do I know?

The World is perfect as it is, including my desire to change it

There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world.

Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes. To think we have it is sure evidence that we don't.

I'm pretty much a realist. There's a certain age you get to when you're not really going to be shown anymore.

I'm going to fail to hit the mark I've put up before me because it's not possible to hit it. I want to be the best at what I do so I've got to get over myself already because that's never going to happen. I ain't ever going to be God.

What saves me from being a drug addict is sort of the opposite. It's me realizing that I don't really control anything.

Humility is a virtue, not a neurosis.

Discourses on humility are a source of pride in the vain and of humility in the humble.

There is only one heroism in the world: to see the world as it is, and to love it.

I'm not going to win an Oscar anytime soon. I'm not Meryl Streep.