The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.
Niels BohrAn independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.
Niels BohrEvery great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.
Niels BohrA person who wasn't outraged on first hearing about quantum theory didn't understand what had been said.
Niels BohrEvery valuable human being must be a radical and a rebel, for what he must aim at is to make things better than they are.
Niels BohrRutherford is a man you can rely on; he comes regularly and enquires how things are going and talks about the smallest details - Rutherford is such an outstanding man and really interested in the work of all the people around him.
Niels BohrWhen asked ... [about] an underlying quantum world, Bohr would answer, 'There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature.'
Niels BohrThe old saying of the two kinds of truth. To the one kind belongs statements so simple and clear that the opposite assertion obviously could not be defended. The other kind, the so-called 'deep truths', are statements in which the opposite also contains deep truth.
Niels BohrTechnology has advanced more in the last thirty years than in the previous two thousand. The exponential increase in advancement will only continue. Anthropological Commentary The opposite of a trivial truth is false; the opposite of a great truth is also true.
Niels BohrWhat is that we human beings ultimately depend on? We depend on our words. We are suspended in language. Our task is to communicate experience and ideas to others.
Niels BohrThe very nature of the quantum theory ... forces us to regard the space-time coordination and the claim of causality, the union of which characterizes the classical theories, as complementary but exclusive features of the description, symbolizing the idealization of observation and description, respectively.
Niels BohrIt 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 BohrThe meaning of life consists in the fact that it makes no sense to say that life has no meaning.
Niels BohrIt is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we say about nature.
Niels BohrA physicist visits a colleague and notices a horseshoe hanging on the wall above the entrance. 'Do you really believe that a horseshoe brings luck?' he asks. 'No,' replies the colleague, 'but I've been told that it works even if you don't believe in it.'
Niels BohrAll 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 BohrThere 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