Penrose Quotes & Sayings

So what I'm saying is why don't we think about changing Schrodinger's equation at some level when masses become too big at the level that you might have to worry about Einstein's general relativity. — Roger Penrose

Some people take the view that the universe is simply there, and it runs along - it's a bit as though it just sort of computes, and we happen by accident to find ourselves in this thing. I don't think that's a very fruitful or helpful way of looking at the universe. — Roger Penrose

Do not be afraid to skip equations (I do this frequently myself). — Roger Penrose

Well I didn't actually see the Matrix but I've seen other movies where with similar sorts of themes. — Roger Penrose

In the present chapter, we tried to pinpoint the place in the brain where quantum action might be important to classical behaviour, and have apparently been driven to consider that it is through the cytoskeletal control of synaptic connections that this quantum/classical interface exerts its fundamental influence on the brain's behaviour. — Roger Penrose

There is a certain sense in which I would say the universe has a purpose. It's not there by chance. — Roger Penrose

The Lord says that "truth is knowledge of things as they are and as they were, and as they are to come" (Sec. 93.) Some of our brethren in writing, and a good many in talking, say truth is the knowledge, or a knowledge of things. . . . The insertion of a or the is a mistake. Truth is knowledge itself, information, intelligence, things that are, things that were, things that are to come--knowledge concerning them. That is truth. It is a splendid definition and answers the question of ages more clearly than anything I have ever heard attempted; even better than "truth the sum of existence," and yet the two in meaning are identical. Now, let us be correct in that little thing, and so in all things that pertain to our doctrines, our duties in the Priesthood, brethren, and in our quotations of scripture let us try to be right, as nearly correct as we can. — Charles W. Penrose

We have a closed circle of consistency here: the laws of physics produce complex systems, and these complex systems lead to consciousness, which then produces mathematics, which can then encode in a succinct and inspiring way the very underlying laws of physics that gave rise to it. — Roger Penrose

I do believe that his given name is something odd. Peregrine, Penrose- Piers, that's it."
"He sounds like a dock." Lord Sundron put in.
"Mrs. Hutchins called me a light frigate this morning," Linnet said "a dock might be just the thing for me. — Eloisa James

The perceiving of mathematical truth can be achieved in very many different ways. There can be little doubt that whatever detailed physical activity it is that takes place when a person perceives the truth of some mathematical statement, this physical activity must differ very substantially from individual to individual, even though they are perceiving precisely the same mathematical truth. Thus, if mathematicians just use computational algorithms to form their unassailable mathematical truth judgments, these very algorithms are likely to differ in their detailed construction, from individual to individual. Yet, in some clear sense, the algorithms would have to be equivalent to one another. — Roger Penrose

Consciousness ... is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known. — Roger Penrose

We are called with a special calling, and we have a special mission to perform. — Charles W. Penrose

Quantum mechanics makes absolutely no sense. — Roger Penrose

There are considerable mysteries surrounding the strange values that Nature's actual particles have for their mass and charge. For example, there is the unexplained 'fine structure constant' ... governing the strength of electromagnetic interactions, ... — Roger Penrose

It may well be there is something else going on in the brain that we don't have an inkling of at the moment. — Roger Penrose

Bring on your storm, my lord-and recall, if you do, the name of this castle-Ser Courtnay Penrose at Storm's End. — George R R Martin

As for morality, well that's all tied up with the question of consciousness. — Roger Penrose

Even an aardvarks think their offspring are beautiful — Roger Penrose

Our present picture of physical reality, particularly in relation to the nature of time, is due for a grand shake up — Roger Penrose

What right do we have to claim, as some might, that human beings are the only inhabitants of our planet blessed with an actual ability to be "aware"? ... The impression of a "conscious presence" is indeed very strong with me when I look at a dog or a cat or, especially, when an ape or monkey at the zoo looks at me. I do not ask that they are "self-aware" in any strong sense (though I would guess that an element of self-awareness can be present). All I ask is that they sometimes simply feel ! — Roger Penrose

I'm pretty tenacious when it comes to problems. — Roger Penrose

My own way of thinking is to ponder long and I hope deeply on problems and for a long time which I keep away for years and years and I never really let them go. — Roger Penrose

It is always the case, with mathematics, that a little direct experience of thinking over things on your own can provide a much deeper understanding than merely reading about them. — Roger Penrose

Ordinary photons do have spin, they have a notion of helicity so they spin around their direction on motion. — Roger Penrose

I imagine that whenever the mind perceives a mathematical idea, it makes contact with Plato's world of mathematical concepts ... When mathematicians communicate, this is made possible by each one having a direct route to truth, the consciousness of each being in a position to perceive mathematical truths directly, through the process of 'seeing'. — Roger Penrose

It seems to me that we must make a distinction between what is "objective" and what is "measurable" in discussing the question of physical reality, according to quantum mechanics. The state-vector of a system is, indeed, not measurable , in the sense that one cannot ascertain, by experiments performed on the system, precisely (up to proportionality) what the state is; but the state-vector does seem to be (again up to proportionality) a completely objective property of the system, being completely characterized by the results it must give to experiments that one might perform. — Roger Penrose

President Wilford Woodruff is a man of wisdom and experience, and we respect and venerate him, but we do not believe his personal views or utterances are revelations from God; and when Thus saith the Lord, comes from him, the saints investigate it: they do not shut their eyes and take it down like a pill. — Charles W. Penrose

The Manifesto was not a divine production but something manufactured to outwit the church's enemies. — Charles W. Penrose

With thought comprising a non-computational element, computers can never do what we human beings can. — Roger Penrose

For years, my early work with Roger Penrose seemed to be a disaster for science. It showed that the universe must have begun with a singularity, if Einstein's general theory of relativity is correct. That appeared to indicate that science could not predict how the universe would begin. — Stephen Hawking

Most Muggles lived in a world defined by the limits of what you could do with cars and telephones. Even though Muggle physics explicitly permitted possibilities like molecular nanotechnology or the Penrose process for extracting energy from black holes, most people filed that away in the same section of their brain that stored fairy tales and history books, well away from their personal realities: Long ago and far away, ever so long ago. — Eliezer Yudkowsky

Public office is the last refuge of the scoundrel. — Boies Penrose

But I think it is a serious issue to wonder about the other platonic absolutes of say beauty and morality. — Roger Penrose

Some people are very earnest after the things of God, and he who seeks finds, and the more he seeks in the right direction the more he finds. He that is dilatory in searching after the things of God, obtains but little; he that is diligent obtains much. All may receive it, but they must obtain it in the way that God has appointed, all receiving their measure according to their diligence and desire; but the spirit is the same. — Charles W. Penrose

If you didn't have any conscious beings in the world, there really wouldn't be morality but with consciousness that you have it. — Roger Penrose

Ambition, idly vain; revenge and malice swell her train. — Roger Penrose

It is hard to see how one could begin to develop a quantum-theoretical description of brain action when one might well have to regard the brain as "observing itself" all the time! — Roger Penrose

Well, I don't know if I can comment on Kant or Hegel because I'm no real philosopher in the sense of knowing what these people have said in any detail so let me not comment on that too much. — Roger Penrose

As you say, the way string theory requires all these extra dimensions and this comes from certain consistency requirements about how string should behave and so on. — Roger Penrose

Some of the greatest mathematical minds of all ages, from Pythagoras and Euclid in ancient Greece, through the medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa and the Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler, to present-day scientific figures such as Oxford physicist Roger Penrose, have spent endless hours over this simple ratio and its properties. But the fascination with the Golden Ratio is not confined just to mathematicians. Biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects, psychologists, and even mystics have pondered and debated the basis of its ubiquity and appeal. In fact, it is probably fair to say that the Golden Ratio has inspired thinkers of all disciplines like no other number in the history of mathematics. — Mario Livio

Intelligence cannot be present without understanding. No computer has any awareness of what it does. — Roger Penrose

I was indeed very slow as a youngster. — Roger Penrose

Some years ago, I wrote a book called the Emperor's New Mind and that book was describing a point of view I had about consciousness and why it was not something that comes about from complicated calculations. — Roger Penrose

This book is about physics and its about physics and its relationship with mathematics and how they seem to be intimately related and to what extent can you explore this relationship and trust it. — Roger Penrose

The basic theory in twistor theory is not to add extra dimensions. — Roger Penrose

No doubt there are some who, when confronted with a line of mathematical symbols, however simply presented, can only see the face of a stern parent or teacher who tried to force into them a non-comprehending parrot-like apparent competence
a duty and a duty alone
and no hint of magic or beauty of the subject might be allowed to come through. — Roger Penrose

People think of these eureka moments and my feeling is that they tend to be little things, a little realisation and then a little realisation built on that. — Roger Penrose

And these little things may not seem like much but after a while they take you off on a direction where you may be a long way off from what other people have been thinking about. — Roger Penrose

In a sense the debate between Penrose and Hawking is a continuation of that earlier argument, with Penrose playing the role of Einstein and Hawking that of Bohr. — Stephen Hawking

In the book, I make the point that here we have string theory and here we have twistor theory and we don't know if either one of them is the right approach to nature. — Roger Penrose

I would say the universe has a purpose. It's not there just somehow by chance. — Roger Penrose

The idea is if you use those two shapes and try to colour the plane with them so the colours match, then the only way that you can do this is to produce a pattern which never repeats itself. — Roger Penrose

Some people take the view that we happen by accident. I think that there is something much deeper, of which we have very little inkling at the moment. — Roger Penrose

Well, gauge theory is very fundamental to our understanding of physical forces these days. But they are also dependent on a mathematical idea, which has been around for longer than gauge theory has. — Roger Penrose

All physical and economic tests that may be devised are worthless if the immigrant, through racial or other inherently antipathetic conditions, cannot be more or less readily assimilated ... — Boies Penrose

I, Charles W. Penrose, wrote the Manifesto with the assistance of Frank J. Cannon and John White ... Wilford Woodruff signed it to beat the devil at his own game. — Charles W. Penrose

Understanding is, after all, what science is all about - and science is a great deal more than mindless computation. — Roger Penrose