J. Robert Oppenheimer Oh-penheimer, Op-penheimer; whatever way you say it, they know I'm Jewish.
Played by Cillian Murphy 
Oppenheimer (2023) · 83 quotes
Oppenheimer (2023) · 83 quotes
Most-quoted character in Oppenheimer (2023): in 24 of its 83 quotes
Most scenes with: Leslie Groves (4)
Members of the security board, the so-called derogatory information in your indictment of me cannot be fully understood except in the context of my life and my work.
More lines from J. Robert Oppenheimer
17 quotes J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer [in response to being asked if he met Werner Heisenberg after leaving Europe]
No, not in person no - but you might say that our paths crossed.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Is light made up of particles or waves? Quantum mechanics says it's both. How can it be both? It can't. It's paradoxical, and yet, it works.
J. Robert Oppenheimer [Ernest]
Lawrence, you embrace the revolution in physics, can’t you see it everywhere else? Picasso, Stravinsky, Freud, Marx...
J. Robert Oppenheimer I’m committed to thinking freely about how to improve our world. Why limit yourself to one dogma?
J. Robert Oppenheimer We’re all simple souls, I guess.
J. Robert Oppenheimer [to Lawrence]
It’s not your people they’re herding into camps. It’s mine.
J. Robert Oppenheimer I don't know if we can be trusted with such a weapon, but I know the Nazis can't.
J. Robert Oppenheimer [to Groves]
You didn’t hire me despite my left-wing past, you hired me because of it. So you could control me.
J. Robert Oppenheimer We’re theorists. Yes? We imagine a future, and our imaginings horrify us. They won’t fear it until they understand it, and they won’t understand it until they’ve used it. When the world learns the terrible secret of Los Alamos, our work here will ensure a peace mankind has never seen -- a peace based on the kind of international cooperation that Roosevelt always envisaged.
J. Robert Oppenheimer [to Szilard, referring to the atomic bomb]
Just because we’re building it doesn’t mean we get to decide how it’s used.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Don't underestimate the psychological impact of an atomic explosion. A pillar of fire ten thousand feet tall, deadly neutron effects for a mile in all directions from one single device, dropped from a barely noticeable B-29. The atomic bomb will be a terrible revelation of divine power.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Once it’s used, nuclear war, maybe all war, becomes unthinkable.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Is anyone ever going to tell the truth about what's happening here?
J. Robert Oppenheimer America and Russia may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life.
J. Robert Oppenheimer If atomic weapons are to be added to the arsenals of a warring world, then the day will come when people will curse the name of Los Alamos.
J. Robert Oppenheimer [to his counsel, Lloyd Garrison]
Only a fool or an adolescent presumes to know someone else’s relationship, and you’re neither, Lloyd. Kitty and I, we’re grown-ups. We’ve walked through fire together, and she’ll do fine.
Scenes with J. Robert Oppenheimer
6 scenes J. Robert Oppenheimer You're talking about turning theory into a practical weapons system faster than the Nazis.
Who have a twelve month head start.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Eighteen.
How could you possibly know that?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Our fast neutron research took six months. The man they've undoubtedly put in charge will have made that leap instantly.
Who do you think they put in charge?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Werner Heisenberg. He has the most intuitive understanding of atomic structure I've ever seen.
You know his work?
J. Robert Oppenheimer I know him. Just like I know Walter Bothe, von Weizsäcker, Diebner... In a straight race, the Germans win. We've got one hope.
Which is?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Antisemitism.
What?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Hitler called quantum physics "Jewish science", said it right to Einstein's face. Our one hope is that Hitler is so, so blinded by hate that he's denied Heisenberg proper resources, because it'll take vast resources. Our nation's best scientists working together. Right now they're scattered.
Which gives us compartmentalization.
J. Robert Oppenheimer All minds have to see the whole task to contribute efficiently. Poor security may cost us the race. Inefficiency will. The Germans know more than us anyway.
The Russians don't.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Remind me, who are we at war with?
Somebody with your past doesn't want to be seen downplaying the importance of security from our communist allies.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Point taken, but no.
You don't get to say no to me.
J. Robert Oppenheimer It's my job to say no to you when you're wrong.
So you have the job now?
J. Robert Oppenheimer I'm considering it.
I'm starting to see where you got your reputation. My favorite response? "Oppenheimer couldn't run a hamburger stand."
J. Robert Oppenheimer I couldn't. But I can run the Manhattan Project.
Why don’t you have a Nobel Prize?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Why aren’t you a General?
They’re making me one for this.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Perhaps I’ll have the same luck.
A Nobel Prize for making a bomb?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Since when are you British?
Klaus Fuchs
Since Hitler told me I wasn't German.
What did Fermi mean by “Atmospheric ignition”?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Well we had a moment where it looked like the chain reaction from an atomic device might never stop. Setting fire to the atmosphere.
Why is Fermi still taking side bets on it?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Call it, “gallows humour”.
Wait, are we saying that there's a chance that when we push that button we destroy the world?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Nothing in our research over three years supports that conclusion. Except it’s the most remote possibility.
How remote?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Chances are near zero.
Near zero?
J. Robert Oppenheimer What do you want from theory alone?
Zero would be nice.
J. Robert Oppenheimer [Looks at his watch]
In exactly 1 hour, 58 minutes, we’ll know.
Ernest Lawrence
[at a meeting of Manhattan Project scientists, and U.S. officials regarding the use of nuclear weapons against Japan]
Is there no way to demonstrate a bomb to Japan to provoke surrender?
We intend to demonstrate it in the most unambiguous terms. Twice. Once to show the weapon's power, and a second to show we can keep doing this until they surrender.
Henry L. Stimson
We have a list of twelve cities to choose from. [he crosses off one city] Sorry, eleven. I've taken Kyoto off the list due to its cultural significance to the Japanese people. Also, [chuckles] my wife and I honeymooned there. It's a magnificent city. Let me make this simple for you, gentlemen. According to my intelligence, which I cannot share with you, the Japanese people will not surrender under any circumstances, short of a successful and total invasion of the home islands. Many lives will be lost, American and Japanese. The use of the atomic bomb on Japanese cities will save lives.
J. Robert Oppenheimer If we retain moral advantage.
Henry L. Stimson
How so?
J. Robert Oppenheimer Well if we use this weapon without informing our allies, they'll see it as a threat. And we'll be in an arms race.
[The final scene of the movie, which finally reveals what Oppenheimer actually said to Albert Einstein by the lake. The conversation starts as Oppenheimer catches Einstein's hat.] [Laughs]
Thank you.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Hello, Albert.
The man of the moment. You once held a reception for me, in Berkeley, you gave me an award.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Yes.
You all thought I had lost the ability to understand what I had started. So the award really wasn’t for me, it was for all of you. Hm? Now it’s your turn. To deal with the consequences of your achievement. And one day, when they’ve punished you enough, they’ll serve you salmon and potato salad. Make speeches. Give you a medal. Pat you on the back, tell you all is forgiven. Just remember, it won’t be for you. It will be for them.
J. Robert Oppenheimer Albert, when I came to you with those calculations, we thought we might start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world...
I remember it well. What of it?
J. Robert Oppenheimer I believe we did.
