Quantum Quotes

322 Sourced quotes

Quantum theory reminds us of the old wisdom that when searching for harmony in life we must forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both players and spectators.

Werner Heisenberg

In all cases, the quantum hypothesis has given rise to the idea, that in Nature, changes occur which are not continuous, but of an explosive nature.

The explanatory crisis which now confronts us in relativity and quantum phenomena is but a repetition of what has occurred many times in the past... Every kitten is confronted with such a crisis at the end of nine days.

Percy Williams Bridgman

Quantum physics tells us that nothing that is observed is unaffected by the observer. That statement, from science, holds an enormous and powerful insight. It means that everyone sees a different truth because everyone is creating what they see.

Neale Donald Walsch

According to quantum doctrine, the roots of life and mind lie embedded deep down in the ultimate structure of this universe, and they are not mere singular apparitions of an unaccountable character, arising accidentally in the later phases of evolution.

If a woman has her PhD in physics, has mastered quantum theory, plays flawless Chopin, was once a cheerleader, and is now married to a man who plays baseball, she will forever be "former cheerleader married to star athlete."

Maryanne Ellison Simmons

Like anyone who is interested in science I was always interested in quantum mechanics, because it has so many bizarre philosophical implications. I have also been interested in what kind of knowledge you can have of people's intentions. It just seemed to me that there is a kind of parallel between physical uncertainty and people's intentions.

I like relativity and quantum theories because I don't understand them and they make me feel as if space shifted about like a swan that can't settle, refusing to sit still and be measured; and as if the atom were an impulsive thing always changing its mind.

As I realized what the abstract mathematics of quantum theory was actually saying, the world became a very strange place indeed. I became uncomfortable. I would like to share that discomfort with you.

Solipsism may be logically consistent with present Quantum Mechanics, Monism in the sense of Materialism is not.

Quantum physics shows us the universe as a dynamic web of connection.

It seems necessary to introduce in the laws in question a quantity foreign to classical electrodynamics, I.e., Planck's constant, or as it is often called, the elementary quantum of action.

The whole thing [quantum leap] seems a myth... but this is not supposed to happen with the electron: instead the frequency of vibration of the emitted light is said to lie somewhere between the orbital frequency before the mysterious jump and the orbital frequency after the jump. All this is sheer madness.

The basic idea is to shove all fundamental difficulties onto the neutron and to do quantum mechanics in the nucleus.

Werner Heisenberg

Calculations that merge the equations of general relativity and those of quantum mechanic typically yield one and the same ridiculous answer: infinity. Like a sharp rap on the wrist from an old-time schoolteacher, an infinite answer is nature's way of telling us that we are doing something that is quite wrong.

I know a great deal. I know too much. I am a quantum ancient.

Possibly the best way to agitate a group of jaded but philosophically inclined physicists is to buy them a bottle of wine and mention interpretations of quantum mechanics. It is like opening a Pandora's box. I have been amused to discover that the number of viewpoints often exceeds the number of participants.

Just the way sound creates visible waves as it travels through a droplet of water, our "belief waves" ripple through the quantum fabric of the universe to become our bodies and the healing, abundance, and peace-or disease, lack, and suffering-that we experience in life. And just the way we can tune a sound to change its patterns, we can tune our beliefs to preserve or destroy all that we cherish, including life itself.

Welcome to the strange world of the quantum, where one cannot determine how a particle gets from here to there. Physicists are reduced to bookies, posting odds on the various possibilities.

Time appears in quantum mechanics as a continuous parameter which represents an abstraction of the dynamical role of the measurement apparatus.

Julian Schwinger

The movement of a single atom from one known position to another known position changes an experience from nothing to overwhelming. This means that mind and matter at the quantum mechanical level are all spun together.

Terence McKenna

The discovery of quantum mechanics and of the principle of uncertainty has shown that man can tear himself away from deeply rooted notions, discover, and accept something that is beyond his power of visualing.

Common sense drives us to accept quantum theory in place of classical physics as more consistent with common sense... When they are inspected, the explanations of classical physics fall apart, and they are seen to be mere superficial delusions, like film-sets.

Quantum mechanics is probably essential to consciousness in about the same way as crystals were once essential to radios, or spark plugs are still essential to traffic jams. Necessary, but not sufficient.

William H. Calvin

In the old physics, three times two equals six and two times three equals 6 are reversible propositions. Not in quantum physics. Three times two and two times three are two different matters, distinct and separate propositions.