Quotes by Niels Bohr

“If anybody says he can think about quantum physics without getting giddy, that only shows he has not understood the first thing about them.”

“In science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting.”

“The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.”

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

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

“No, no, youre not thinking; youre just being logical.”

“Two sorts of truth: trivialities, where opposites are obviously absurd, and profound truths, recognized by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth.”

“Prediction is very difficult, especially if its about the future.”

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

“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. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough.”

“If quantum mechanics hasnt profoundly shocked you, you havent understood it yet.”

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

You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another truth.

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

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.

There are trivial truths and there are great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.

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

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

Stop telling God what to do with his dice.

The very nature of the quantum theory ... forces us to regard the space-time coordination and the claim of causality, the union of which characterizes the classical theories, as complementary but exclusive features of the description, symbolizing the idealization of observation and description, respectively.