Max Planck

Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of nature and therefore a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.

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.

We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up to now, that they will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future.

The highest purpose of a man is to serve humanity.

The pioneer in a new field of knowledge is never a popular man.

An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer.

There can never be any real opposition between religion and science; for the one is the complement of the other. Every serious and reflective person realizes, I think, that the religious element in his nature must be recognized and cultivated if all the powers of the human soul are to work together in perfect balance and harmony. And indeed it was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls, even if they did not always profess their religion over the rooftops.

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

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: 'Ye shall have faith.' It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with.

The greatest discovery of mankind is that man can do what he sets his mind to.

The quantum hypothesis will never be understood until one realizes that it is only a provisional stopgap.

When we speak of the 'reality' of the external world, we mean that it is independent of our perception of it.

The freedom of thought and speech must be preserved in all circumstances.

The scientist needs a vivid imagination to create hypotheses and theories. The best scientists are also artists.

The old pioneers of science, such as Galileo, Kepler, Newton, were deeply religious men.

Science advances funeral by funeral.

Insight must precede application.

The value of a man is not in what he acquires but in what he develops.

It is not the truth that matters, but the search for it.

Physics is a science of the real world, not of the subjective impressions of the individual.