Max Born quotes

Max Born was a German physicist and mathematician who made fundamental contributions to quantum mechanics. His work laid the groundwork for the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory. He helped shape modern physics and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954. Here are 24 of his quotes:

Intellect distinguishes between the possible and the impossible; reason distinguishes between the sensible and the senseless. Even the possible can be senseless. (Max Born)
If God has made the world a perfect mechanism, He has at least conceded so much to our imperfect intellect that in order to predict little parts of it, we need not solve innumerable differential equations, but can use dice with fair success. View quote
Max Born
The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world. View quote
Max Born
I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed. View quote
Max Born
There are two objectionable types of believers: those who believe the incredible and those who believe that "belief" must be discarded and replaced by "the scientific method." View quote
Max Born
The continuity of our science has not been affected by all these turbulent happenings, as the older theories have always been included as limiting cases in the new ones. View quote
Max Born
It is true that many scientists are not philosophically minded and have hitherto shown much skill and ingenuity but little wisdom. View quote
Max Born
I am now convinced that theoretical physics is actually philosophy. View quote
Max Born
In combination with other infernal contraptions, like rockets to deliver bombs at large distances, chemical, biological and radioactive poisons, such a war must mean a degree of human suffering and degradation which is beyond the power of imagination. No country would be immune, but those with highly developed industry would suffer most. It is very doubtful whether our technological civilization would survive such a catastrophe. One may be inclined to regard this as no great loss, but as a just punishment for its shortcomings and sins: the lack of productive genius in art and literature, the neglect of the moral teachings of religion and philosophy, the slowness to abandon outdated political conceptions, like national sovereignty. Yet we are all involved in this tragedy, and the instinct of self-preservation, the love of our children, makes us think about a way of salvation. View quote
Max Born
Can we call something with which the concepts of position and motion cannot be associated in the usual way, a thing, or a particle? And if not, what is the reality which our theory has been invented to describe? The answer to this is no longer physics, but philosophy. View quote
Max Born
Those who say that the study of science makes a man an atheist, must be rather silly people. (Max Born)
We need to make a world in which fewer children are born, and in which we take better care of them. View quote
Max Born
There are metaphysical problems, which cannot be disposed of by declaring them meaningless. For, as I have repeatedly said, they are «beyond physics» indeed and demand an act of faith. We have to accept this fact to be honest. There are two objectionable types of believers: those who believe the incredible and those who believe that «belief» must be discarded and replaced by «the scientific method». View quote
Max Born
It has taught us new methods of thinking (complementarity), which are applicable far beyond physics. View quote
Max Born
Every object that we perceive appears in innumerable aspects. The concept of the object is the invariant of all these aspects. View quote
Max Born
The lesson to be learned from what I have told of the origin of quantum mechanics is that probable refinements of mathematical methods will not suffice to produce a satisfactory theory, but that somewhere in our doctrine is hidden a concept, unjustified by experience, which we must eliminate to open up the road. View quote
Max Born
What can we scientists do in this conflict? We can join the spiritual, religious, philosophical forces, which reject war on ethical grounds. We can even attack the ideological foundations of the conflict itself. For science is not only the basis of technology but also the material for a sound philosophy. View quote
Max Born
The scientist's urge to investigate, like the faith of the devout or the inspiration of the artist, is an expression of mankind's longing for something fixed, something at rest in the universal whirl: God, Beauty, Truth. View quote
Max Born
The dance of atoms, electrons and nuclei, which in all its fury is subject to God's eternal laws, has been entangled with. View quote
Max Born
Naturally, it is necessary to redefine what is meant. View quote
Max Born
There are metaphysical problems, which cannot be disposed of by declaring them meaningless. (Max Born)
I believe that ideas such as absolute certitude, absolute exactness, final truth, etc. are figments of the imagination which should not be admissible in any field of science... This loosening of thinking seems to me to be the greatest blessing which modern science has given to us. For the belief in a single truth and in being the possessor thereof is the root cause of all evil in the world. View quote
Max Born
Physics as we know it will be over in six months. View quote
Max Born
I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed. We do not find signposts at crossroads, but our own scouts erect them, to help the rest. View quote
Max Born