QuoteProject
It is the hallmark of any deep truth that its negation is also a deep truth.
Niels Bohr
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Deep truths often possess dualities where their opposites are equally profound.

Niels Bohr's quote suggests that truths are often complex and multifaceted, indicating that understanding one aspect of a truth can lead to the realization that its opposite also holds validity. This reflects the idea that knowledge is not simply binary but rather exists within a spectrum where opposing concepts can coexist as meaningful and profound.

Themes

TruthPhilosophyDualityKnowledgeUnderstanding

In practice

Example use cases

In a philosophical discussion about the nature of truth.

More from Niels Bohr

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.'
Niels BohrRead
An independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.
Niels BohrRead
An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
Niels BohrRead
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
Niels BohrRead
When searching for harmony in life one must never forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both actors and spectators.
Niels BohrRead
And anyone who thinks they can talk about quantum theory without feeling dizzy hasn't yet understood the first thing about it.
Niels BohrRead

Similar quotes

The use of "religion" as an excuse to repress the freedom of expression and to deny human rights is not confined to any country or time.
Margaret AtwoodRead
You can't judge an internal injury by the size of the hole.
Salman RushdieRead
We know that we are not collectively guilty, so how can we accuse any other nation, no matter what some of its people have done, of being collectively guilty?
Simon WiesenthalRead
Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavour to warp and spoil it to their turn.
William PennRead
Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind. We love the land of our nativity, only as we love all other lands. The interests, rights, and liberties of American citizens are no more dear to us than are those of the whole human race. Hence we can allow no appeal to patriotism, to revenge any national insult or injury.
William Lloyd GarrisonRead
I was sure that somewhere a grandiose carnival was going on in the sky, and I was missing it.
Eve BabitzRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.