Physics Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old physics quotes, physics sayings, and physics proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Physics is the most fundamental, and least significant, of the sciences. Ken Wilber
Physics is an attempt conceptually to grasp reality as something that is considered to be independent of its being observed. In this sense one speaks of physical reality. Albert Einstein
Physics is, hopefully, simple. Physicists are not. Edward Teller
Physics tells us observations can't be predicted absolutely. Rather, there's a range of possible observations each with a different probability. Robert Lanza
The knowledge of the soul is knowledge of the universe. Alexis Karpouzos
Newton's laws of physics can rarely be applied to the real world. There is more to life than cause and effect. Things just aren't that simple. Amy Zhang
Physics is the only profession in which prophecy is not only accurate but routine. Neil deGrasse Tyson
In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded. Terry Pratchett
Physics investigates the essential nature of the world, and biology describes a local bump. Psychology, human psychology, describes a bump on the bump. Willard Van Orman Quine
In physics, to be in two places at the same time would be a miracle; in politics it seems not merely normal, but natural. Charles Edison
Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole. William S. Burroughs
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real. Niels Bohr
The people who actually make the advances in theoretical physics don't think in these categories that the philosophers and the historians of science subsequently invent for them. Stephen Hawking
All creation necessarily ends in this: creators, powerless, fleeing from the things they have wrought David Eagleman
Measure what can be measured, and make measureable what cannot be measured. Galileo Galilei
No two electrons in the same state? That is why atoms are so unnecessarily big, and why metal and stone are so bulky. Paul Ehrenfest
It would be better for the true physics if there were no mathematicians on earth. Daniel Bernoulli
Physics has found no straight lines. Instead, the physical universe consists of only waves undulating back and forth allowing for corrections and balance. R. Buckminster Fuller
For us physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one. Albert Einstein
Quantum physics thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. Erwin Schrodinger
The development of physics, like the development of any science, is a continuous one. Owen Chamberlain
The fundamental concept in social science is power, in the same sense in which energy is the fundamental concept in physics. Bertrand Russell
It is the nature of physics to hear the loudest of mouths over the most comprehensive ones. Criss Jami
Physics is really nothing more than a search for ultimate simplicity, but so far all we have is a kind of elegant messiness. Bill Bryson
Physics is about questioning, studying, probing nature. You probe, and, if you're lucky, you get strange clues. Lene Hau
Calculate the fine structure constant from first principles. David J. Griffiths
There is nothing that living things do that cannot be understood from the point of view that they are made of atoms acting according to the laws of physics. Richard P. Feynman
If all of mathematics disappeared, physics would be set back by exactly one week. Richard P. Feynman
Physics is experience, arranged in economical order. Ernst Mach