Quotes by Niels Bohr

About Niels Bohr:

Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

There are some things so serious you have to laugh at them.

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes, which can be made, in a very narrow field.

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.

Niels Bohr

The meaning of life consists in the fact that it makes no sense to say that life has no meaning.

Niels Bohr

I myself find the division of the world into an objective and a subjective side much too arbitrary. The fact that religions through the ages have spoken in images, parables, and paradoxes means simply that there are no other ways of grasping the real...

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

[About describing atomic models in the language of classical physics:] We must be clear that 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 e...

Niels Bohr

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

Niels Bohr

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...

Niels Bohr

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

Niels Bohr

Author Bio

  • NameNiels Bohr
  • DescriptionDanish physicist and receiver of a 1922 Nobel Prize
  • AliasesNiels Henrik David Bohr
  • BornOctober 7, 1885
  • DiedNovember 18, 1962
  • CountryDenmark
  • ProfessionPhysicist; Association Football Player; Chemist; Philosopher
  • AwardsNobel Prize In Physics; Franklin Medal; Order Of The Elephant; Atoms For Peace Award; Order Of Merit For Arts And Science; Niels Bohr International Gold Medal; Copley Medal; Faraday Lectureship Prize; Max Planck Medal