QuoteProject
I confess, that very different from you, I do find sometimes scientific inspiration in mysticism ... but this is counterbalanced by an immediate sense for mathematics.
Wolfgang Pauli
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights the tension between mysticism and the logical rigor of mathematics in the pursuit of scientific inspiration.

Wolfgang Pauli suggests that while he sometimes draws inspiration from mysticism, he balances this with a strong grounding in mathematics. This reflects the broader interplay between intuitive, mystical thinking and the structured, rational approach that characterizes much of scientific inquiry, indicating that both can contribute to understanding the universe.

Themes

ScienceMysticismMathematicsInspirationIntuition

In practice

Example use cases

In a lecture about the connection between science and philosophy, this quote could illustrate the balance between different modes of thinking.

More from Wolfgang Pauli

The layman always means, when he says "reality" that he is speaking of something self-evidently known; whereas to me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality.
Wolfgang PauliRead
That's not right. That's not even wrong.
Wolfgang PauliRead
Physics is very muddled again at the moment; it is much too hard for me anyway, and I wish I were a movie comedian or something like that and had never heard anything about physics!
Wolfgang PauliRead
The fact that the author thinks slowly is not serious, but the fact that he publishes faster than he thinks is inexcusable.
Wolfgang PauliRead
What really matters for me is ... the more active role of the observer in quantum physics ... According to quantum physics the observer has indeed a new relation to the physical events around him in comparison with the classical observer, who is merely a spectator.
Wolfgang PauliRead
This isn't right. This isn't even wrong.
Wolfgang PauliRead

Similar quotes

The latest authors, like the most ancient, strove to subordinate the phenomena of nature to the laws of mathematics.
Isaac NewtonRead
From a genomic perspective, we are all Africans.
Svante PaaboRead
At the extremes it is difficult to distinguish pseudoscience from rigid, doctrinaire religion.
Carl SaganRead
Information overload refers to the notion that we're trying to take in more than the brain can handle.
Daniel LevitinRead
I had fallen in love with a young man... and we were planning to get married. And then he died of subacute bacterial endocarditis... Two years later with the advent of penicillin, he would have been saved. It reinforced in my mind the importance of scientific discovery...
Gertrude B. ElionRead
Relativity is a purely scientific matter and has nothing to do with religion.
Albert EinsteinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.