Wernher von Braun Quotes

“A good engineer gets stale very fast if he doesn't keep his hands dirty.”

“All one can really leave one's children is what's inside their heads. Education, in other words, and not earthly possessions, is the ultimate legacy, the only thing that cannot be taken away.”

“Although I know of no reference to Christ ever commenting on scientific work, I do know that He said 'Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'

Thus I am certain that, were He among us today, Christ would encourage scientific research as modern man's most noble striving to comprehend and admire His Father's handiwork. The universe as revealed through scientific inquiry is the living witness that God has indeed been at work.”

“Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.”

“By the year 2000 we will undoubtedly have a sizable operation on the Moon, we will have achieved a manned Mars landing and it's entirely possible we will have flown with men to the outer planets.”

“Can a physicist visualize an electron? The electron is materially inconceivable and yet, it is so perfectly known through its effects that we use it to illuminate our cities, guide our airlines through the night skies and take the most accurate measurements. What strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable electrons as real while refusing to accept the reality of a Designer on the ground that they cannot conceive Him?”

“Crash programs fail because they are based on theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby in a month.”

“Development of the space station is as inevitable as the rising of the sun; man has already poked his nose into space and he is not likely to pull it back. There can be no thought of finishing, for aiming at the stars – both literally and figuratively – is the work of generations, and no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning.”

“Don't tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go - and he'll do plenty well when he gets there.”

“Everybody knows what the moon is, everybody knows what this decade is, and everybody can tell a live astronaut who returned from the moon from one who didn't.”

“For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all.”

“For my confirmation, I didn't get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like most Lutheran boys. I got a telescope. My mother thought it would make the best gift.”

“Get me a broom. I'll sweep my own office.”

“I believe in an immortal soul. Science has proved that nothing disintegrates into nothingness. Life and soul, therefore, cannot disintegrate into nothingness, and so are immortal.”

“I believe that the time has arrived for medical investigation of the problems of manned rocket flight, for it will not be the engineering problems but rather the limits of the human frame that will make the final decision as to whether manned space flight will eventually become a reality.”

“I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.”

“I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.”

“I only hope that we shall not wait to adopt the program until after our astronomers have reported a new and unsuspected asteroid moving across their fields of vision with menacing speed. At that point it will be too late!”

“I would like simply to point out that the space program has by all standards become America's greatest generator of new ideas in science and technology.”

“I'm convinced that before the year 2000 is over, the first child will have been born on the moon.”

“If we continue at this leisurly pace, we will have to pass Russian customs when we land on the moon.”

“If we were to start today on an organized and well-supported space program I believe a practical passenger rocket can be built and tested within ten years.”

“In most cases the scientist will be fully aware of the possibility of an abuse of his discoveries, but aside from his innate scientific curiosity he will be motivated by a deep-seated hope and belief that something of value for his fellow man may emerge from his labors.”

“In the future utopia will need to hurry to keep up with reality.”

“In this age of space flight, when we use the modern tools of science to advance into new regions of human activity, the Bible remains in every way an up-to-date book. Our knowledge and use of the laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil. The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God.”

“In this modern world of ours many people seem to think that science has somehow made such religious ideas as immortality untimely or old fashioned. I think science has a real surprise for the skeptics. Science, for instance, tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation. If God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of His universe, doesn't it make sense to assume that He applies it to the masterpiece of His creation, the human soul?”

“It takes sixty-five thousand errors before you are qualified to make a rocket.”

“Looking back, nothing seems so simple than a utopian vision realised.”

“Man is not made for space. But with the help of biologists and medical doctors, he can be prepared and accommodated.”

“My experiences with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?”