Should a young scientist working with me come to me after two years of such work and ask me what to do next, I would advise him to get out of science. After two years of work, if a man does not know what to do next, he will never make a real scientist.

I congratulate you both on a fine piece of work which I am sure will ultimately prove of importance. I am personally very much interested in your results... In the past I have tried a number of experiments... but without any success.

We haven't got the money, so we've got to think.

Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently.

An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.

All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial.

When we have found how the nucleus of atoms is built up we shall have found the greatest secret of all — except life. We shall have found the basis of everything — of the earth we walk on, of the air we breathe, of the sunshine, of our physical body itself, of everything in the world, however great or however small — except life.