Physics Quotes - Page 4

• 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.

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• Physics is to mathematics what sex is to masturbation.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Sex, Math, Science

  "Fear of Physics: A Guide for the Perplexed". Book by Lawrence M. Krauss (p. 27), 1993.

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  Lectures which really teach will never be popular; lectures which are popular will never really teach.

  Michael Faraday

  Lectures, Teach

  Michael Faraday, Frank A. J. L. James (1996). “The Correspondence of Michael Faraday: 1841-December 1848, letters 1334-2145”, Iet

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• In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.

  Carl Sagan

  Change, Learning, Humility

  Keynote address at CSICOP conference in 1987. "Do Science and the Bible Conflict?" Book by Judson Poling, p. 30, 2003.

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• Understanding how DNA transmits all it knows about cancer, physics, dreaming and love will keep man searching for some time.

  David R. Brower

  Dream, Cancer, Men

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• Politics is more difficult than physics.

  Albert Einstein

  Wise, Philosophy, Politics

  Quoted in N.Y. Times, 22 Apr. 1955

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  In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Mean, Science, Apples

  Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes "Evolution as Fact and Theory" (1983)

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• Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Beautiful, Nature

  Albert Einstein (2015). “Bite-Size Einstein: Quotations on Just About Everything from the Greatest Mind of the Twentieth Century”, p.31, St. Martin's Press

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• The verbal interpretation, on the other hand, i.e. the metaphysics of quantum physics, is on far less solid ground. In fact, in more than forty years physicists have not been able to provide a clear metaphysical model.

  Erwin Schrodinger

  Hands, Years, Able

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• I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Inspirational, Motivational, Education

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.6, Princeton University Press

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• We must be physicists in order to be creative since so far codes of values and ideals have been constructed in ignorance of physics or even in contradiction to physics.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Ignorance, Science, Order

  "Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations". Book by Carl C. Gaither, January 8, 2008.

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• Physics is mathematical not because we know so much about the physical world, but because we know so little; it is only its mathematical properties that we can discover.

  Bertrand Russell

  Humility, Math, Science

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “An Outline of Philosophy”, p.171, Routledge

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

  Albert Einstein

  Moon, Thinking, Quantum

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• If you miss one day in physics, that's it.

  Robert Iler

  Missing You, One Day, Ifs

  "Family secrets (part 2)" by Chris Heath, www.theguardian.com. September 2, 2001.

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• You will certainly not doubt the necessity of studying astronomy and physics, if you are desirous of comprehending the relation between the world and Providence as it is in reality, and not according to imagination.

  Maimonides

  Reality, Astrology, Imagination

  Moses Maimonides (2016). “Guide for the perplexed”, p.297, Moses Maimonides

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• Science is as corruptible a human activity as any other.

  Michael Crichton

  Integrity, Humans, Activity

  Michael Crichton (2007). “Next”, HarperCollins UK

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• I do not see how a man can work on the frontiers of physics and write poetry at the same time. They are in opposition.

  Paul Dirac

  Writing, Men, New Frontiers

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• A careful analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent measurement.

  Erwin Schrodinger

  Preparation, Analysis, Measurement

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  Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Albert Einstein's letter to his son Eduard (February 5, 1930), as quoted in Walter Isaacson "Einstein: His Life and Universe" (p. 367), 2007.

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• Chemistry has been termed by the physicist as the messy part of physics, but that is no reason why the physicists should be permitted to make a mess of chemistry when they invade it.

  Frederick Soddy

  Science, Invasion, Reason Why

  American Journal of Physics, Vol. 14, (p. 248), 1946.

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• I like to say, when asked why I pursue science, that it is to satisfy my curiosity, that I am by nature a searcher trying to understand. If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day.

  John Archibald Wheeler

  Curiosity, Trying, Strange

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• There is no democracy in physics. We can't say that some second-rate guy has as much right to opinion as Fermi.

  Luis Walter Alvarez

  Science, Guy, Democracy

  "The Politics of Pure Science". Book by Daniel S. Greenberg, p. 43, 1967.

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• Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Albert Einstein (2015). “Bite-Size Einstein: Quotations on Just About Everything from the Greatest Mind of the Twentieth Century”, p.31, St. Martin's Press

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• Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.

  Donald Knuth

  Art, Math, Science

  Foreword to the book "A=B" by Marko Petkovsek, Herbert S. Wilf and Doron Zeilberger, 1996.

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• We can't help it. Life looks for life.

  Carl Sagan

  Looks, Helping

  Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan (2011). “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”, p.21, Ballantine Books

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