If we are honest - and scientists have to be - we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality.

What makes the theory of relativity so acceptable to physicists in spite of its going against the principle of simplicity is its great mathematical beauty. This is a quality which cannot be defined, any more than beauty in art can be defined, but which people who study mathematics usually have no difficulty in appreciating.

A good deal of my research in physics has consisted in not setting out to solve some particular problem, but simply examining mathematical equations of a kind that physicists use and trying to fit them together in an interesting way, regardless of any application that the work may have. It is simply a search for pretty mathematics. It may turn out later to have an application. Then one has good luck. At age 78.

A physical law must possess mathematical beauty.

The measure of greatness in a scientific idea is the extent to which it stimulates thought and opens up new lines of research.

I admired Bohr very much. We had long talks together, long talks in which Bohr did practically all the talking.

There are always more people who prefer to speak than to listen.