Quotes on Physics

I learnt to distrust all physical concepts as the basis for a theory. Instead one should put one's trust in a mathematical scheme, even if the scheme does not appear at first sight to be connected with physics. One should concentrate on getting interesting mathematics.

There are two worlds we live in: a material world, bound by the laws of physics, and the world inside our mind, which is just as important.

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.

Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.

Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.

Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.

Traditionally, scientists have treated the laws of physics as simply 'given,' elegant mathematical relationships that were somehow imprinted on the universe at its birth, and fixed thereafter. Inquiry into the origin and nature of the laws was not regarded as a proper part of science.

For me, science is already fantastical enough. Unlocking the secrets of nature with fundamental physics or cosmology or astrobiology leads you into a wonderland compared with which beliefs in things like alien abductions pale into insignificance.

All you are is a bag of particles acting out the laws of physics. That to me is pretty clear.

The laws of physics ... seem to be the product of exceedingly ingenious design... The universe must have a purpose.

Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.

I took biology in high school and didn't like it at all. It was focused on memorization. ... I didn't appreciate that biology also had principles and logic ... [rather than dealing with a] messy thing called life. It just wasn't organized, and I wanted to stick with the nice pristine sciences of chemistry and physics, where everything made sense. I wish I had learned sooner that biology could be fun as well.

A careful analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent measurement.

As we look out into the Universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked together to our benefit, it almost seems as if the Universe must in some sense have known that we were coming.

In quitting this strange world he has once again preceded me by a little. That doesn't mean anything. For those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however tenacious.

The complexity of the connection between the world of perception and the world of physics does not preclude that such a connection can be shown to exist at any time.

To decide upon the answer is not scientific. In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar ajar only.

Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine - the special pleading of selfish interests.

Physics has a history of synthesizing many phenomena into a few theories.

The laws of Congress and the laws of physics have grown increasingly divergent, and the laws of physics are not likely to yield.

In science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting.