Max Planck

"The atoms or elementary particles themselves are not real; they form a world of potentialities or possibilities rather than one of things or facts."

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness."

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

"The acceptance of an absurd theory is often the price of a bold scientific advance."

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

"God does not play dice with the universe."

"The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, conditions from which the poetic activity is not free."

"An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out and that the growing generation is familiarized with the ideas from the beginning."

"The more success the quantum theory has, the sillier it looks."

"Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: 'Leave hope all ye who enter here.'"

"It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science."

"The purpose of science is not merely to describe nature but to understand it."

"A man cannot sincerely try to be good unless he is growing out of selfishness."

"Each of us has all the wisdom and all the knowledge we shall ever need within us."

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, we feel all their joys and sorrows."

"Anybody who has truly engaged in scientific work knows that over the gates of science are written the words: abandon hope, all ye who enter here."

"Scientific truth is unassailable: plainly, no agency is empowered to rescind it."

"The scientist's religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law."

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you are looking at change their appearance."

"There is no denying that the creative power of the human mind has scarcely any limits."

"The greatest task of physics is to know nature, and in nature there is order."

"Physics is really nothing more than a search for ultimate simplicity, but so far all we have is a kind of elegant messiness."

"You cannot maintain friendships without offering the highest form of respect and admiration."

"The energy of the future will not come from the atom, but from cooperation."

"Truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

"Every man has certain common sense unless he is a physicist."

"I regard matter as derivative from consciousness."

"The feeling of beauty depends on a certain harmony between the object and the subject."

"It is of the highest importance that we take seriously the smallest indications of supernatural significance in life."