Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of inquiry over assertion in the pursuit of knowledge.
Niels Bohr suggests that every statement made should be perceived not simply as a declaration of truth, but rather as an invitation to explore further and ask questions. This perspective encourages a continuous quest for understanding, where each assertion opens up new avenues for inquiry rather than closing discussion.
In practice
During a philosophy class discussing the nature of truth.
When asked ... [about] an underlying quantum world, Bohr would answer, 'There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. 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.'
An independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.
An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
When searching for harmony in life one must never forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both actors and spectators.
And anyone who thinks they can talk about quantum theory without feeling dizzy hasn't yet understood the first thing about it.
My destination is no longer a place, rather a new way of seeing.
We say that the sun is behind the clouds, but actually it is not the sun but the city from which we view it that is behind the clouds. If we realized that the sun is never behind the clouds we might have a different attitude toward the whole thing.
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities.
. . . by natural selection our mind has adapted itself to the conditions of the external world. It has adopted the geometry most advantageous to the species or, in other words, the most convenient. Geometry is not true, it is advantageous.
Men's ideas about what women are have been formed from their ruling caste position, and have assigned women characteristics that would most advantage their masters, as well as justify men's rule over them. They do not represent 'truth' but have been promoted as if they were, with the backing of science and patriarchal views of biology.
Religion was instituted to make us happy in this life and in the other. What must we do to be happy in the life to come? Be just.
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