Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that what we consider to be real is ultimately composed of elements that are intangible or abstract.
Niels Bohr's quote probes the nature of reality, indicating that the physical world we perceive is constructed from fundamental particles and forces that defy our traditional understanding of 'realness'. It invites a philosophical contemplation on the nature of existence, pushing us to consider that reality is a complex interplay of the tangible and the intangible, and that our perceptions might be limited by our understanding of these underlying components.
In practice
In a lecture on the nature of reality, I cited Niels Bohr's quote to spark a discussion about perception.
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.
Government seems to operate on the principle that if even one individual is incapable of using his freedom competently, no one can be allowed to be free.
To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, every inch of space is a miracle, every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same, every cubic foot of the interior swarms with the same; every spear of grass-the frames, limbs, organs, of men and women, and all that concerns them, all these to me are unspeakably perfect miracles.
There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.
War is war. The only good human being is a dead one.
The mind is a product of experience. It is the result of past thinking and is modified by present thinking.
Africa can and will only advance through African integration, which can be realized through the Federal United States of Africa
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