Most people who haven't been trained in physics probably think of what physicists do as a question of incredibly complicated calculations, but that's not really the essence of it. The essence of it is that physics is about concepts, wanting to understand the concepts, the principles by which the world works.
In: Michio Kaku, Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time, Warps, and the 10th Dimension, Chapter 7 (p. 152)