Every word or concept, clear as it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability.
WERNER HEISENBERGEvery word or concept, clear as it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability.
WERNER HEISENBERGAlthough the theory of relativity makes the greatest of demands on the ability for abstract thought, still it fulfills the traditional requirements of science insofar as it permits a division of the world into subject and object (observer and observed) and, hence, a clear formulation of the law of causality.
WERNER HEISENBERGWith all this information available, at least to privileged persons, I cannot understand why it is generally held in the United States that we completely missed the basic principle of the bomb until after Hiroshima.
WERNER HEISENBERGBohr’s influence on the physics and the physicists of our century was stronger than that of anyone else, even than that of Albert Einstein.
WERNER HEISENBERGThe solution of the difficulty is that the two mental pictures which experiment lead us to form – the one of the particles, the other of the waves – are both incomplete and have only the validity of analogies which are accurate only in limiting cases.
WERNER HEISENBERGSometimes a poor performance is better for enjoyment, because you can look at those things that were wrong and analyze them.
WERNER HEISENBERGWhoever dedicates his life to searching out particular connections of nature will spontaneously be confronted with the question how they harmoniously fit into the whole.
WERNER HEISENBERGThe problems of language here are really serious. We wish to speak in some way about the structure of the atoms. But we cannot speak about atoms in ordinary language.
WERNER HEISENBERGThere is a great difference between discoveries and inventions. With discoveries, one can always be skeptical, and many surprises can take place. In the case of inventions, surprises can really only occur for people who have not had anything to do with it.
WERNER HEISENBERGNatural science, does not simply describe and explain nature; it is part of the interplay between nature and ourselves.
WERNER HEISENBERGIn America, it was decided to attempt the production of atomic bombs with an effort that would constitute a large part of the collective American war effort.
WERNER HEISENBERGI think that if a United States of Europe were to be formed, it would be in our interests to fight for it, as all our old traditions would remain in such a united Europe, whereas if we were to start now as part of the Russian Empire, everything that had ever been in Germany would disappear.
WERNER HEISENBERGIt is generally believed that our science is empirical and that we draw our concepts and our mathematical constructs from the empirical data.
WERNER HEISENBERGI believe this uranium business will give the Anglo-Saxons such tremendous power that Europe will become a bloc under Anglo-Saxon domination. If that is the case, it will be a very good thing. I wonder whether Stalin will be able to stand up to the others as he has done in the past.
WERNER HEISENBERGIf this were the whole truth, we should, when entering into a new field, introduce only such quantities as can directly be observed, and formulate natural laws only by means of these quantities.
WERNER HEISENBERGCertainly, in the course of time, the splendid things will separate from the hateful.
WERNER HEISENBERG