Niels Bohr Quotes

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

It is very difficult to make an accurate prediction, especially about the future.

I go into the Upanishads to ask questions.

The meaning of life consists in the fact that it makes no sense to say that life has no meaning.

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

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.

Perhaps I have found out a little about the structure of atoms.

Physics is not about how the world is, it is about what we can say about the world

One must always do what one really cannot.

The opposite of every great idea is another great idea.

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

You must come to Copenhagen to work with us. We like people who can actually perform thought experiments!

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

If you think you understand it, that only shows that you don't know the first thing about it.

There is no hope for any speculation that does not look absurd at first glance.

Accuracy and clarity of statement are mutually exclusive.

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

We are suspended in language.

We are trapped by language to such a degree that every attempt to formulate insight is a play on words.

Some things are so serious, they can only be joked about.

It is not enough to be wrong, one must also be polite.

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

Prediction is difficult, especially the future.

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

And anyone who thinks they can talk about quantum theory without feeling dizzy hasn't yet understood the first thing about it.

It is a great pity that human beings cannot find all of their satisfaction in scientific contemplativeness.

Anybody who is not shocked by this subject has failed to understand it. [of quantum mechanics]

Anyone who can contemplate quantum mechanics without getting dizzy hasn't understood it.

When searching for harmony in life one must never forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both actors and spectators.

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

Nothing exists until it is measured.

Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them.

The measurement we get when we measure something is not a property of the thing measured.

A person who wasn't outraged on first hearing about quantum theory didn't understand what had been said.

It is difficult to predict, especially the future.

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

In the great drama of existence we are audience and actors at the same time.

Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.

It is the hallmark of any deep truth that its negation is also a deep truth

You are not thinking, you are just being logical.

Predition is risky, especially of the future.

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

There are some things so serious that you have to laugh at them.

Sometimes the child in one behaves a certain way and the rest of oneself follows behind, slowly shaking its head.

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

We all know your idea is crazy. The question is whether it is crazy enough.

A deep truth is a truth so deep that not only is it true but it's exact opposite is also true.

Truth is something that we can attempt to doubt, and then perhaps, after much exertion, discover that part of the doubt is not justified.

Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think

Of course I don't believe in it [pointing to horseshoe on his office wall]. But I understand that it brings you luck whether you believe in it or not.

Anyone not shocked by quantum mechanics has not yet understood it.

Physics is the belief that a simple and consistent description of nature is possible.

Address to Albert Einstein: You are not thinking. You are merely being logical.

If we couldn't laugh at ourselves, that would be the end of everything.

Predictions are hard, especially abot the future.

Truth and clarity are complementary

Stop telling God what to do with his dice.

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

If you aren't confused by quantum mechanics, you haven't really understood it.

There are some things so serious you have to laugh at them.

Oh what idiots we have all been, this is just as it must be

An independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.

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

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.

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.

Isolated material particles are abstractions, their properties being definable and observable only through their interaction with other systems .

Every valuable human being must be a radical and a rebel, for what he must aim at is to make things better than they are

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

No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical.