Of course I don't believe in it [pointing to horseshoe on his office wall]. But I understand that it brings you luck whether you believe in it or not.
Interpretation
Belief can influence perception of luck, regardless of whether it's rational.
This quote by Niels Bohr highlights the distinction between belief and reality, suggesting that the act of believing in something, such as a horseshoe as a symbol of luck, can have a psychological effect. Even if one does not personally subscribe to the superstition, understanding its influence on others can be significant, revealing how our perceptions can shape our experiences.
In practice
During a motivational speech, to emphasize the power of belief.
When asked ... [about] an underlying quantum world, Bohr would answer, 'There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature.'
An independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.
An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
When searching for harmony in life one must never forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both actors and spectators.
And anyone who thinks they can talk about quantum theory without feeling dizzy hasn't yet understood the first thing about it.
Let's be honest - tracking down, rounding up, and deporting millions of people isn't realistic. Anyone who suggests otherwise isn't being straight with you. It's also not who we are as Americans.
What can you ever really know of other people's souls β of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole of creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. If there is a God, you are, in a sense, alone with Him.
They were indeed what was known as 'old money', which meant that it had been made so long ago that the black deeds which had originally filled the coffers were now historically irrelevant. Funny, that: a brigand for a father was something you kept quiet about, but a slave-taking pirate for a great-great-great-grandfather was something to boast of over the port. Time turned the evil bastards into rogues, and rogue was a word with a twinkle in its eye and nothing to be ashamed of.
There are, indeed, things that cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is mystical.
See one promontory, one mountain, one sea, one river and see all.
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild' is a snivelling modern invention, with no warrant in the gospels.
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