An electron is no more (and no less) hypothetical than a star. Nowadays we count electrons one by one in a Geiger counter, as we count the stars one ….

I am aware that many critics consider the conditions in the stars not sufficiently extreme . . . the stars are not hot enough. The critics lay themse….

Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate. One thing at least is certain, light has weight. One thing is certain and the rest debate. Light rays, whe….

The helium which we handle must have been put together at some time and some place. We do not argue with the critic who urges that the stars are not ….

On one occasion when [William] Smart found him engrossed with his fundamental theory, he asked Eddington how many people he thought would understand ….

There once was a brainy baboon, Who always breathed down a bassoon, For he said, It appears That in billions of years I shall certainly hit o….

For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal..

Shuffling is the only thing which Nature cannot undo..

Never accept a fact until it has been verified by theory..

There is only one law of Nature-the second law of thermodynamics-which recognises a distinction between past and future more profound than the differ….

There was a time when we wanted to be told what an electron is. The question was never answered. No familiar conceptions can be woven around the elec….

It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing t….

Philosophically, the notion of a beginning of the present order of Nature is repugnant to me ... I should like to find a genuine loophole..

Unless the structure of the nucleus has a surprise in store for us, the conclusion seems plain — there is nothing in the whole system of laws of phys….

Observation and theory get on best when they are mixed together, both helping one another in the pursuit of truth. It is a good rule not to put overm….

In the world of physics we watch a shadowgraph performance of the drama of familiar life. The shadow of my elbow rests on the shadow table as the sha….

So far as physics is concerned, time's arrow is a property of entropy alone..

Our model of Nature should not be like a building-a handsome structure for the populace to admire, until in the course of time some one takes away a ….

Probably the simplest hypothesis... is that there may be a slow process of annihilation of matter..

The quest of the absolute leads into the four-dimensional world..

Falling in love is one of the activities forbidden that tiresome person, the consistently reasonable man..