Heinz R. Pagels Quotes & Sayings

Gravity is the curvature of space. — Heinz R. Pagels

Nature knows nothing of imperfection; imperfection is a human perception of nature. Inasmuch as we are part of nature we are also perfect; it is our humanity that is imperfect. And, ironically, because of our capacity for imperfection and error we are free beings - a freedom that no stone or animal can enjoy. Without the possibility of error and real indeterminacy implied by the quantum theory, human liberty is meaningless. The God that plays dice has set us free. — Heinz R. Pagels

Stars are like animals in the wild. We may see the young but never the actual birth, which is a veiled and secret event. — Heinz R. Pagels

A real magician makes no claim to violate physical laws; he only appears to do so. However, when pseudoscientists make claims to discover dramatic new phenomena, going beyond current physical theory, like telepathy or mental metal bending, then, like children, we must insist on seeing how the trick is done or as adults sit back and enjoy the entertainment. As — Heinz R. Pagels

Uncertainty and Complementarity It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how Nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature. — Heinz R. Pagels

Science cannot resolve moral conflicts, but it can help to more accurately frame the debates about those conflicts. — Heinz R. Pagels

The final story of randomness - utter chaos - has not yet been told to us by the mathematicians. It seems remarkable that something so fundamental for probability theory has not been defined and even more remarkable that we can go so far in mathematics lacking a definition. By simply assuming randomness exists, mathematicians assign elementary probabilities to events, and that is their starting point. But they have not captured chaos and looked it in the eye. — Heinz R. Pagels

Science shows us what exists but not what to do about it. — Heinz R. Pagels

The world changed from having the determinism of a clock to having the contingency of a pinball machine. — Heinz R. Pagels

Without the possibility of error and real indeterminacy implied by the quantum theory, human liberty is meaningless. — Heinz R. Pagels

I like to browse in occult bookshops if for no other reason than to refresh my commitment to science. — Heinz R. Pagels

The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible. — Heinz R. Pagels

The most important questions of life are, for the most part, really only problems of probability. — Heinz R. Pagels