Wolfgang Pauli Quotes

The layman always means, when he says reality that he is speaking of something self-evidently known; whereas to me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

Einstein has a feeling for the central order of things. He can detect it in the simplicity of natural laws. We may take it that he felt this simplicity very strongly and directly during his discovery of the theory of relativity. Admittedly, this is a far cry from the contents of religion. I don't believe Einstein is tied to any religious tradition, and I rather think the idea of a personal God is entirely foreign to him. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

For quite a while I have set for myself the rule if a theoretician says 'universal' it just means pure nonsense. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

This isn't right. This isn't even wrong. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

One shouldn't work on semiconductors, that is a filthy mess; who knows whether any semiconductors exist. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

If we wanted to construct a basic philosophical attitude from these scientific utterances of Pauli's, at first we would be inclined to infer from them an extreme rationalism and a fundamentally skeptical point of view. In reality however, behind this outward display of criticism and skepticism lay concealed a deep philosophical interest even in those dark areas of reality of the human mind which elude the grasp of reason. And while the power of fascination emanating from Pauli's analyses of physical problems was admittedly due in some measure to the detailed and penetrating clarity of his formulations, the rest was derived from a constant contact with the field of creative processes, for which no rational formulation as yet exists. ~ Werner Heisenberg

It isn't right. It isn't even wrong. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

God made the bulk; the surface was invented by the devil. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

In his first philosophical lecture on modern physics that Pauli gave in November 1934 to the Zurich Philosophical Society he said that only a formulation of quantum theory would be satisfactory which expresses the relation between the value of [the fine structure constant] and charge conservation in the same complementary was as that between the space-time description and energy-momentum conservation. ~ Charles P. Enz

Es gibt keinen Gott und Dirac ist sein Prophet. (There is no God and Dirac is his Prophet.)

{A remark made during the Fifth Solvay International Conference (October 1927), after a discussion of the religious views of various physicists, at which all the participants laughed, including Dirac, as quoted in Teil und das Ganze (1969), by Werner Heisenberg, p. 119; it is an ironic play on the Muslim statement of faith, the Shahada, often translated: 'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet.'} ~ Wolfgang Pauli

This is to show the world that I can paint like Titian . [A big drawing of a rectangle] Only technical details are missing. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

Physics is very muddled again at the moment; it is much too hard for me anyway, and I wish I were a movie comedian or something like that and had never heard anything about physics! ~ Wolfgang Pauli

From the point of view of logic, my report on 'Exclusion principle and quantum mechanics' has no conclusion. I believe that it will only be possible to write the conclusion if a theory will be established which will determine the value of the fine structure constant and will thus explain the atomistic structure of electricity, which is such an essential quality of all atomic sources of electric fields actually occurring in nature. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

There can never be two or more equivalent electrons in an atom, for which in a strong field the values of all the quantum numbers n, k1, k2 and m are the same. If an electron is present, for which these quantum numbers (in an external field) have definite values, then this state is 'occupied.' ~ Wolfgang Pauli

Wolfgang Pauli, in the months before Heisenberg's paper on matrix mechanics pointed the way to a new quantum theory, wrote to a friend, "At the moment physics is again terribly confused. In any case, it is too difficult for me, and I wish I had been a movie comedian or something of the sort and had never heard of physics." That testimony is particularly impressive if contrasted with Pauli's words less than five months later: "Heisenberg's type of mechanics has again given me hope and joy in life. To be sure it does not supply the solution to the riddle, but I believe it is again possible to march forward. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

That theory is worthless. It isn't even wrong! ~ Wolfgang Pauli

Einstein was remarkable for his powers of concentration; he could work uninterruptedly for hours and even days on the same problem. Some of the topics that interested him remained on his mind for decades. For relaxation he turned to music and to sailing, but often his work would continue during these moments as well; he usually had a notebook in his pocket so that he could jot down any idea that came to him. Once, after the theory of relativity had been put forth, he confessed to his colleague Wolfgang Pauli, "For the rest of my life I want to reflect on what light is." It is perhaps not entirely an accident that a focus on light is also the first visual act of the newborn child. ~ Howard Gardner

Aristotle was by far a less able thinker than Plato ... he was completely overwhelmed by Plato. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

I have done a terrible thing, I have postulated a particle that cannot be detected. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

A good example of the archetypal ideas which the archetypes produce are natural numbers or integers. With the aid of the integers the shaping and ordering of our experiences becomes exact. Another example is mathematical group theory. ...important applications of group theory are symmetries which can be found in most different connections both in nature and among the 'artifacts' produced by human beings. Group theory also has important applications in mathematics and mathematical physics. For example, the theory of elementary particles and their interactions can in essential respects be reduced to abstract symmetries.
[The Message of the Atoms: Essays on Wolfgang Pauli and the Unspeakable] ~ Kalervo V. Laurikainen

Later, however, I came to recognize the objective nature of these dreams or fantasies ... Thus it was that I gradually came to acknowledge that such fantasies or dreams are neither meaningless nor purely arbitrary but rather convey a sort of "second meaning" of the terms applied. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

Why did the chicken cross the road? there already was a chicken on this side of the road. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

When one analyzes the pre-conscious step to concepts, one always finds ideas which consist of 'symbolic images.' The first step to thinking is a painted vision of these inner pictures whose origin cannot be reduced only and firstly to the sensual perception but which are produced by an 'instinct to imagining' and which are re-produced by different individuals independently, i.e. collectively ... But the archaic image is also the necessary predisposition and the source of a scientific attitude. To a total recognition belong also those images out of which have grown the rational concepts. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

Everything comes to him who knows how to wait. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

When Jung first advanced this idea, most physicists did not take it seriously (although one eminent physicist of the time, Wolfgang Pauli, felt it was important enough to coauthor a book with Jung on the subject entitled The Interpretation and Nature of the Psyche). But now that the existence of nonlocal connections has been established, some physicists are giving Jung's idea another look. * Physicist Paul Davies states, "These non-local quantum effects are indeed a form of synchronicity in the sense that they establish a connection - more precisely a correlation - between events for which any form of causal linkage is forbidden. ~ Michael Talbot

The natural scientist is concerned with a particular kind of phenomena ... he has to confine himself to that which is reproducible ... I do not claim that the reproducible by itself is more important than the unique. But I do claim that the unique exceeds the treatment by scientific method. Indeed it is the aim of this method to find and test natural laws ... ~ Wolfgang Pauli

... it should be remembered that the atomicity of electric charge has already found its expression in the specific numerical value of the fine structure constant, a theoretical understanding of which is still missing today. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

It is not only not right, it is not even wrong. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

I refuse to believe that God is a weak left-hander. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

The best that most of us can hope to achieve in physics is simply to misunderstand at a deeper level. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

How can one avoid despondency if one thinks of the anomalous Zeeman effect? ~ Wolfgang Pauli

You know, what Einstein has just said isn't so stupid. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

It seems significant that according to quantum physics the indestructibility of energy on one hand which expresses its timeless existence and the appearance of energy in space and time on the other hand correspond to two contradictory (complementary) aspects of reality. In fact, both are always present, but in individual cases the one or the other may be more pronounced. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

It is always the older that emanates the new one. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

A colleague who met me strolling rather aimlessly in the beautiful streets of Copenhagen said to me in a friendly manner, "You look very unhappy"; whereupon I answered fiercely, "How can one look happy when he is thinking about the anomalous Zeeman effect?". ~ Wolfgang Pauli

That's not right. That's not even wrong. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

Modern man, seeking a middle position in the evaluation of sense impression and thought, can, following Plato , interpret the process of understanding nature as a correspondence, that is, a coming into congruence of pre-existing images of the human psyche with external objects and their behaviour. Modern man, of course, unlike Plato , looks on the pre-existent original images also as not invariable, but as relative to the development of a conscious point of view, so that the word "dialectic" which Plato is fond of using may be applied to the process of development of human knowledge. ~ Wolfgang Pauli

A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world's torrent. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The present moment is a powerful goddess. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I, for my share, cannot understand," continued she, "how men have made themselves believe that God speaks to us through books and histories. The man to whom the universe does not reveal directly what relation it has to him, whose heart does not tell him what he owes to himself and others, that man will scarcely learn it out of books, which generally do little more than give our errors names. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Go to the place where the thing you wish to know is native; your best teacher is there. Where the thing you wish to know is so dominant that you must breathe its very atmosphere, there teaching is moat thorough, and learning is most easy. You acquire a language most readily in the country where it is spoken; you study mineralogy boat among miners; and so with everything else. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

We must note the curious fact that people are not content with what is simple to understand, but go straight for the more complex problems which they will perhaps never grasp. What is simple to grasp is quite usable and useful, and can keep us occupied for a whole lifetime if it satisfies and stimulates us. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

In politics people throw themselves, as on a sickbed, from one side to the other in the belief they will lie more comfortably. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Piety is not a goal but a means to attain through the purest peace of mind the highest culture. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Man usually believes, if only words he hears,
That also with them goes material for thinking.
[Ger., Gewohnlich glaubt der Mensch, wenn er nur Worte hort,
Es musse sich dabei doch auch was denken.] ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The angles even
Draw strength from gazing on its glance,
Though none its meaning fathom may;
The world's unwither'd countenance
Is bright as at creation's day. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I have not often seen more natural acting than that of these masks. It is such acting as can only be sustained by a remarkably happy talent and long practice. While I am writing this, they are making a tremendous noise on the canal under my window, though it is past midnight. Whether for good or for evil, they are always doing something. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Tomorrow sees undone, what happens not to-day; Still forward press, nor never tire! The possible, with steadfast trust, Resolve should be by the forelock grasp. Then she will ne'er let go her clasp, And labors on, because she must. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

It's irrelevant whether what one says is true or false: both will be contradicted. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The dear good people don't know how long it takes to learn to read. I've been at it eighty years, and can't say yet that I've reached the goal. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Many things can happen very quickly in times of crisis. ~ Wolfgang Schauble

Where Pan protects them. In the cool, wet places Of bushy clefts, nature's nymphs live hidden, 9880 The crowding trees reach upwards with their branches Longingly, after a higher region. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always so composed, so full of wisdom, that we are able to take in at once the whole scope of a work according to its merits. Do we not mark in a book passages which seem to have a direct reference to ourselves? Young people especially, who have failed in acquiring a complete cultivation of mind, are roused in a praiseworthy way by brilliant passages ... ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

He calls it reason, using it To be more beast than ever beast was yet. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I think the time of the formal dinners is over. ~ Wolfgang Puck

Over all the mountain tops is peace. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

It is going to have healthy food and exercise mixed together. With smaller portions, and more exercise, you live a better life. ~ Wolfgang Puck

A vast dawning entirety lies before the soul, our senses lose themselves in it as do our eyes and oh! we long to make the oblation of all our being and to be filled utterly with the bliss of a single large and glorious feeling. - And oh! when we hurry after it, when There becomes Here, all is as it was and we stand in our poverty, in our narrowness, and the soul in us parches for the elusive freshening. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Time flies, and what is past is done. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Yet through delivery orators succeed, I feel that I am far behind indeed. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Mr. Geithner is an excellent minister. We have a good personal relationship. ~ Wolfgang Schauble

His easy going behavior contrasts greatly with my restlessness ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The evolutionist thesis has become more stringently unthinkable than ever before. ~ Wolfgang Smith

Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

All our learned schoolmasters and tutors are agreed that children do not know why they want what they want. But no one likes to think - blindingly obvious though it is, in my view - that grown-ups too, like children, totter around on the earth and, like the children, do not know where they have come from or where they are going, act no more than children do for any true purpose and are just as governed by biscuits, cakes, and the rod. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Give me those days with heart in riot, The depths of bliss that touched on pain, The force of hate, and love's disquiet- Ah, give me back my youth again! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

International Relations are too important to be left to the specialists. ~ Karl Wolfgang Deutsch