Niels Bohr Quotes

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.

Your theory is crazy, but it’s not crazy enough to be true.

A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself.

How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.

The fact that atoms are so small and that all life is based on them is the most remarkable thing I know about nature.

If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.

The hallmark of scientific behaviour is a certain scepticism even toward one’s own ideas and theories.

We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.

There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is.

An old friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a dead body.

The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of profound truth is also profound truth.

If you can explain quantum mechanics without getting dizzy, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Physics is not just mathematics but mathematics with the knobs turned up to high.

The universe isn’t just more strange than we imagine, it is more strange than we can imagine.

Never express yourself more clearly than you can think.

If you’re not confused by quantum mechanics, you’re doing it wrong.

Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.

If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics.

How dismal it is to see present-day scientists yearning for the illusory satisfactions in the gift shop of the material world and forgetting the power of imagination.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we say about nature.

We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct.

Do not underestimate the power of mythology in a scientific age.

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.

It is wrong to think that the pleasure of tasting wine is necessarily proportioned to the amount taken at a time. After the first glass, the pleasure increases only very slowly.

The making of theories is often a tedious business. What comes after is the pleasure of discovery, of the unexpected coherence of evidence, the thrill of cognition.

When we measure something we are forcing an undetermined, undefined world to assume an experimental value. We are not measuring the world, we are creating it.

You are not thinking. You are merely being logical.

Your theory is crazy, but it’s not crazy enough to be true.

Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

The great tragedy of science – the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.

There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is.

The fact that atoms are so small and that all life is based on them is the most remarkable thing I know about nature.

Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.

Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.

It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.

We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.

Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.

How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.

Anybody who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.