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We are trapped by language to such a degree that every attempt to formulate insight is a play on words.

Niels Bohr

The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.
NIELS BOHR

Fake Science Truth Wisdom
It is, indeed, perhaps the greatest prospect of humanistic studies to contribute through an increasing knowledge of the history of cultural development to that gradual removal of prejudices which is the common aim of all science.
NIELS BOHR

Development Greatness History Humanity Science Study
It is not enough to be wrong, one must also be polite.
NIELS BOHR

Enough Polite Wrong
Oh what idiots we have all been, this is just as it must be.
NIELS BOHR

Idiot Spiritual
It is a great pity that human beings cannot find all of their satisfaction in scientific contemplativeness.
NIELS BOHR

Greatness Human Satisfaction Science
You must come to Copenhagen to work with us. We like people who can actually perform thought experiments!
NIELS BOHR

Experiement People Science Work Yourself
The opposite of every great idea is another great idea.
NIELS BOHR

Greatness Ideas One Liner
If you have a correct statement, then the opposite of a correct statement is of course an incorrect statement, a wrong statement. But when you have a deep truth, then the opposite of a deep truth may again be a deep truth.
NIELS BOHR

Philosophy Truth Wisdom Wrong Yourself
A deep truth is a truth so deep that not only is it true but it’s exact opposite is also true.
NIELS BOHR

Deep Science Truth Wisdom
Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.
NIELS BOHR

Difficult Future Time
When searching for harmony in life one must never forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both actors and spectators.
NIELS BOHR

Drama Existence Forget Life Ourselves Peace Search
An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
NIELS BOHR

Education Encouragement Inspirational Man Mistake
Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.
NIELS BOHR

Deep Reality Science
Isolated material particles are abstractions, their properties being definable and observable only through their interaction with other systems .
NIELS BOHR

Material Property Science
And anyone who thinks they can talk about quantum theory without feeling dizzy hasn’t yet understood the first thing about it.
NIELS BOHR

Feeling Talk Theory Thinking Understand
It is the hallmark of any deep truth that its negation is also a deep truth.
NIELS BOHR

Deep Truth Wisdom
The meaning of life consists in the fact that it makes no sense to say that life has no meaning.
NIELS BOHR

Life Philosophy Wisdom
When we measure something we are forcing an undetermined, undefined world to assume an experimental value. We are not measuring the world, we are creating it.
NIELS BOHR

Creation Force Science Value World
A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself.
NIELS BOHR

Science Way
There are two sorts of truth: trivialities, where opposites are clearly absurd, and profound truths, recognised by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth.
NIELS BOHR

Deep Mad Recognition Truth
Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them.
NIELS BOHR

Joke Oneself Serious
We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough.
NIELS BOHR

Crazy Enough Feeling Theory
All rising curves that show unwelcome trends in human affairs will approach infinity if extended far enough, but it is we who dictate the curve and not vice versa.
NIELS BOHR

Enough Human Rise Science Vice
Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.
NIELS BOHR

Expression Inspirational Science Thinking
Our task is not to penetrate the essence of things, the meaning of which we do not know anyway, but rather to develop concepts which allow us to talk in a productive way about phenomena in nature
NIELS BOHR

Development Nature Ourselves Talk
In our description of nature the purpose is not to disclose the real essence of the phenomena but only to track down, so far as it is possible, relations between the manifold aspects of our experience.
NIELS BOHR

Experience Nature Possible Purpose Reality
Some things are so serious, they can only be joked about.
NIELS BOHR

Funny Joke Science Serious

We are trapped by language to such a degree that every attempt to formulate insight is a play on words.

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We are trapped by language to such a degree that every attempt to formulate insight is a play on words.

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