Quantum Theory Quotes

• It is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. In fact, some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it is that it is unquestionably correct.

  Michio Kaku

  Science, Facts, Going For It

  FaceBook post by Dr. Michio Kaku from Mar 02, 2010

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Niels Bohr

  Science, Firsts, Physics

  "The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr, Volume IV: Causality and Complementarity" edited by Jan Faye and Henry J. Folse (1998); later quoted in Karen Michelle Barad "Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning" (p. 254), 2007.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• If [quantum theory] is correct, it signifies the end of physics as a science.

  Albert Einstein

  Physics, Ends, Quantum

  32 Copy quote

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

  Niels Bohr

  Learning, Thinking, Theoretical Physics

  "The philosophy of Niels Bohr" by Aage Petersen in "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists", Volume 19, No. 7 (September 1963), as quoted in Abraham Pais "The Genius of Science: A Portrait Gallery" (p. 24), 2000, and in Paul McEvoy "Niels Bohr: Reflections on Subject and Object" (p. 291), October 2000.

  37 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Niels Bohr

  Inspiration, Understanding, Quantum Physics

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  130 Copy quote

  Show source

• Imagination is more important than knowledge.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Positive, Leadership

  Albert Einstein (2015). “Bite-Size Einstein: Quotations on Just About Everything from the Greatest Mind of the Twentieth Century”, p.32, St. Martin's Press

  375 Copy quote

  Show source

• Belief in an external world independent of the perceiving subject is the basis of all natural science.

  Albert Einstein

  Memorable, Independent, World

  Albert Einstein (2011). “Essays in Science”, p.32, Open Road Media

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The more success the quantum theory has, the sillier it looks

  Albert Einstein

  Memorable, Looks, Physics

  12 Copy quote

• If God has made the world a perfect mechanism, He has at least conceded so much to our imperfect intellect that in order to predict little parts of it, we need not solve innumerable differential equations, but can use dice with fair success.

  Max Born

  Order, Perfect, Needs

  Max Born (2013). “Physics in My Generation”, p.63, Springer

  31 Copy quote

  Show source

• One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Life, God

  Albert Einstein (2016). “The Albert Einstein Collection: Essays in Humanism, The Theory of Relativity, and The World As I See It”, p.117, Open Road Media

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• When the province of physical theory was extended to encompass microscopic phenomena through the creation of quantum mechanics, the concept of consciousness came to the fore again. It was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without reference to the consciousness.

  Eugene Wigner

  Law, Way, Consciousness

  Eugene Paul Wigner (2013). “The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner: Historical, Philosophical, and Socio-Political Papers. Historical and Biographical Reflections and Syntheses”, p.28, Springer Science & Business Media

  37 Copy quote

  Show source

• Physics should represent a reality in time and space, free from spooky action at a distance.

  Walter Isaacson

  Distance, Reality, Space

  Walter Isaacson (2008). “Einstein: His Life and Universe”, p.533, Simon and Schuster

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• I like to think the moon is there even if I am not looking at it.

  Albert Einstein

  Moon, Thinking, Physics

  27 Copy quote

• There was a time when the newspapers said that only twelve men understood the theory of relativity. I do not believe there ever was such a time ... On the other hand, I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Believe, Men, Thinking

  The Character of Physical Law ch. 6 (1965)

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The mathematical framework of quantum theory has passed countless successful tests and is now universally accepted as a consistent and accurate description of all atomic phenomena.

  Erwin Schrodinger

  Successful, Tests, Accepted

  17 Copy quote

• Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world.

  Albert Einstein

  Science, Mind, Investing

  Albert Einstein, Leopold Infeld (1966). “Evolution of Physics”, p.31, Simon and Schuster

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.

  William Lawrence Bragg

  Knowledge, Learning, Science

  29 Copy quote

• But how is one to make a scientist understand that there is something unalterably deranged about differential calculus, quantum theory, or the obscene and so inanely liturgical ordeals of the precession of the equinoxes.

  Antonin Artaud

  Math, Understanding, Scientist

  Antonin Artaud, Susan Sontag (1976). “Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings”, p.497, Univ of California Press

  84 Copy quote

  Show source

• The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.

  Henri Poincare

  Beautiful, Math, Science

  Henri Poincare (2012). “The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare”, p.318, Modern Library

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know God's thoughts, the rest are details.

  Albert Einstein

  God, Believe, Science

  57 Copy quote

• It is more important to have beauty in one's equations than to have them fit experiment.

  Paul Dirac

  Mathematical Equations, Important, Fit

  "Magic numbers: can maths equations be beautiful?" by Ian Sample, www.theguardian.com. November 21, 2016.

  60 Copy quote

  Show source

• You know how it always is, every new idea, it takes a generation or two until it becomes obvious that there's no real problem. It has not yet become obvious to me that there's no real problem. I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Real, Ideas, Two

  "Simulating Physics with Computers". Richard P. Feynman, "International Journal of Theoretical Physics", Volume 21, 1982.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I cannot seriously believe in it [quantum theory] because the theory cannot be reconciled with the idea that physics should represent a reality in time and space, free from spooky actions at a distance [spukhafte Fernwirkungen].

  Albert Einstein

  Distance, Believe, Science

  8 Copy quote

• When asked ... [about] an underlying quantum world, Bohr would answer, '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. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature.'

  Niels Bohr

  Nature, Science, Thinking

  21 Copy quote

• All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Witty, Humorous, Science

  Quoted in J. B. Birks, Rutherford at Manchester (1962)

  62 Copy quote

  Show source