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GENERAL:
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
Albert Einstein
The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.
Albert Einstein
SCIENCE - GENERAL:
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
Albert Einstein
In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.
Paul Dirac
If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning, concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.
David Hume
The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.
Albert Einstein
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein
Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.
Albert Einstein
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
Albert Einstein
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Albert Einstein
Truth and clarity are complementary.
Niels Bohr
If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize.
Richard P. Feynman
Scientists are clever, but the problem with them is that sometimes they are too clever to see the obvious.
Hrvoje Nikolic
Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.
Albert Einstein
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.
Albert Einstein
We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
Albert Einstein
PHYSICS - GENERAL:
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Richard Feynman
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.
Albert Einstein
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 His thoughts; the rest are details.
Albert Einstein
Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true.
Niels Bohr (to Wolfgang Pauli after his presentation of Heisenberg's and Pauli's nonlinear field theory of elementary particles, at Columbia University 1958)
It's better to do the right calculation in the wrong theory than the wrong calculation in the right theory.
Juan Maldacena
It is more important to have beauty in one's equations than to have them fit experiment... It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting beauty in one's equations, and if one has really a sound insight, one is on a sure line of progress. If there is not complete agreement between the results of one's work and experiment, one should not allow oneself to be too discouraged, because the discrepancy may well be due to minor features that are not properly taken into account and that will get cleared up with further developments of the theory.
Paul A.M. Dirac
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
Albert Einstein
If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations—then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation—well these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
QUANTUM PHYSICS:
If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.
Niels Bohr
If you really believe in quantum mechanics, then you can't take it seriously.
R. M. Wald
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
Albert Einstein
The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.
Albert Einstein
SCIENCE - GENERAL:
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
Albert Einstein
In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.
Paul Dirac
If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning, concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.
David Hume
The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.
Albert Einstein
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein
Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.
Albert Einstein
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
Albert Einstein
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Albert Einstein
Truth and clarity are complementary.
Niels Bohr
If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize.
Richard P. Feynman
Scientists are clever, but the problem with them is that sometimes they are too clever to see the obvious.
Hrvoje Nikolic
Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.
Albert Einstein
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.
Albert Einstein
We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
Albert Einstein
PHYSICS - GENERAL:
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Richard Feynman
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.
Albert Einstein
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 His thoughts; the rest are details.
Albert Einstein
Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true.
Niels Bohr (to Wolfgang Pauli after his presentation of Heisenberg's and Pauli's nonlinear field theory of elementary particles, at Columbia University 1958)
It's better to do the right calculation in the wrong theory than the wrong calculation in the right theory.
Juan Maldacena
It is more important to have beauty in one's equations than to have them fit experiment... It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting beauty in one's equations, and if one has really a sound insight, one is on a sure line of progress. If there is not complete agreement between the results of one's work and experiment, one should not allow oneself to be too discouraged, because the discrepancy may well be due to minor features that are not properly taken into account and that will get cleared up with further developments of the theory.
Paul A.M. Dirac
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
Albert Einstein
If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations—then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation—well these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
QUANTUM PHYSICS:
If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.
Niels Bohr
If you really believe in quantum mechanics, then you can't take it seriously.
R. M. Wald