You have to have a lot of ideas. First, if you want to make discoveries, it's a good thing to have good ideas. And second, you have to have a sort of sixth sense-the result of judgment and experience-which ideas are worth following up. I seem to have the first thing, a lot of ideas, and I also seem to have good judgment as to which are the bad ideas that I should just ignore, and the good ones, that I'd better follow up.
Linus PaulingI try to identify myself with the atoms ... I ask what I would do If I were a carbon atom or a sodium atom.
Linus PaulingI recognize that many physicists are smarter than I am-most of them theoretical physicists. A lot of smart people have gone into theoretical physics, therefore the field is extremely competitive. I console myself with the thought that although they may be smarter and may be deeper thinkers than I am, I have broader interests than they have.
Linus PaulingYou can trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency.
Linus Pauling[Instead of collecting stamps, he collected dictionaries and encyclopaedias:] Because you can learn more from them.
Linus Pauling