Paul A.M. Dirac Quotes & Sayings

Living is worthwhile if one can contribute in some small way to this endless chain of progress. — Paul A.M. Dirac

The aim of science is to make difficult things understandable in a simpler way; the aim of poetry is to state simple things in an incomprehensible way. The two are incompatible. — Paul A.M. Dirac

The measure of greatness in a scientific idea is the extent to which it stimulates thought and opens up new lines of research. — Paul A.M. Dirac

When you ask what are electrons and protons I ought to answer that this question is not a profitable one to ask and does not really have a meaning. The important thing about electrons and protons is not what they are but how they behave, how they move. I can describe the situation by comparing it to the game of chess. In chess, we have various chessmen, kings, knights, pawns and so on. If you ask what chessman is, the answer would be that it is a piece of wood, or a piece of ivory, or perhaps just a sign written on paper, or anything whatever. It does not matter. Each chessman has a characteristic way of moving and this is all that matters about it. The whole game os chess follows from this way of moving the various chessmen. — Paul A.M. Dirac

The successful development of science requires a proper balance to be maintained between the method of building up from observations and the method of deducing by pure reasoning from speculative assumptions. — Paul A.M. Dirac

People who equate all the different kinds of human activity to money are taking too primitive a view of things. — Paul A.M. Dirac

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite. — Paul A.M. Dirac

If one is working from the point of view of getting beauty into one's equation, ... one is on a sure line of progress. — Paul A.M. Dirac

Pick a flower on Earth and you move the farthest star. — Paul A.M. Dirac