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No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical.
Niels Bohr
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Thinking involves creativity and original thought beyond mere logic.

Niels Bohr's quote emphasizes the distinction between pure logical reasoning and deeper, more creative thinking. While logic is essential for problem-solving, true thinking requires imagination and the ability to perceive beyond clear-cut rationality, suggesting that understanding complex ideas often demands more than just logical analysis.

Themes

LogicThinkingCreativityPhilosophyImagination

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about problem-solving techniques at a conference, one might refer to this quote to stress the importance of creativity.

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