Quotes from Niels Bohr

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

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

Our task is not to penetrate the essence of things, the meaning of which we do not know anyway, but rather to develop concepts which allow us to talk in a productive way about phenomena in nature

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

When it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images and establishing mental connections.

The opposite of every great idea is another great idea.

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

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

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

Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation but as a question.[A caution he gives his students, to be wary of dogmatism.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is that we human beings ultimately depend on? We depend on our words. We are suspended in language. Our task is to communicate experience and ideas to others.

When it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.

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

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

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

Prediction is difficult, especially the future.

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