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

Niels Bohr

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Niels Bohr
Age: 77 †
Born: 1885
Born: October 7
Died: 1962
Died: November 18
Association Football Player
Chemist
Nuclear Physicist
Philosopher Of Science
Physicist
University Teacher
København
Niels Henrik David Bohr
Nicholas Baker
N. Bohr
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More quotes by Niels Bohr

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If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.
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No paradox, no progress.
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Anybody who is not shocked by this subject has failed to understand it. [of quantum mechanics]
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Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them.
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Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.
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We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough.
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Accuracy and clarity of statement are mutually exclusive.
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The opposite of every great idea is another great idea.
Niels Bohr
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If you think you understand it, that only shows that you don't know the first thing about it.
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If you have a correct statement, then the opposite of a correct statement is of course an incorrect statement, a wrong statement. But when you have a deep truth, then the opposite of a deep truth may again be a deep truth.
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The meaning of life consists in the fact that it makes no sense to say that life has no meaning.
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You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another truth.
Niels Bohr
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The very nature of the quantum theory ... forces us to regard the space-time coordination and the claim of causality, the union of which characterizes the classical theories, as complementary but exclusive features of the description, symbolizing the idealization of observation and description, respectively.
Niels Bohr
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Truth and clarity are complementary.
Niels Bohr
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In physics we deal with states of affairs much simpler than those of psychology and yet we again and again learn that our task is not to investigate the essence of things-we do not at all know what this would mean&mashbut to develop those concepts that allow us to speak with each other about the events of nature in a fruitful manner.
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A physicist visits a colleague and notices a horseshoe hanging on the wall above the entrance. 'Do you really believe that a horseshoe brings luck?' he asks. 'No,' replies the colleague, 'but I've been told that it works even if you don't believe in it.'
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Address to Albert Einstein: You are not thinking. You are merely being logical.
Niels Bohr
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If we couldn't laugh at ourselves, that would be the end of everything.
Niels Bohr
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How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.
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There are trivial truths and the great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.
Niels Bohr