If you aren't confused by quantum mechanics, you haven't really understood it.
Interpretation
Understanding quantum mechanics involves confronting confusion and complexity.
Niels Bohr's quote suggests that the intricacies and paradoxes of quantum mechanics are inherently baffling, and true comprehension requires grappling with these uncertainties. It emphasizes that confusion is not a sign of ignorance, but rather a fundamental part of mastering such a complex subject.
In practice
In a lecture about quantum physics, you could use this quote to highlight the complexity of the subject.
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.
The most important discoveries will provide answers to questions that we do not yet know how to ask and will concern objects we have not yet imagined.
Intellectual-property rules are clearly necessary to spur innovation: if every invention could be stolen, or every new drug immediately copied, few people would invest in innovation. But too much protection can strangle competition and can limit what economists call 'incremental innovation' - innovations that build, in some way, on others.
Should a young scientist working with me come to me after two years of such work and ask me what to do next, I would advise him to get out of science. After two years of work, if a man does not know what to do next, he will never make a real scientist.
As a child, I wanted to know how things worked and to control them. With a friend, I built a number of complicated models that I could control.
There are no black holes - in the sense of regimes from which light can't escape to infinity. There are however apparent horizons which persist for a period of time.
Among other things, neuroplasticity means that emotions such as happiness and compassion can be cultivated in much the same way that a person can learn through repetition to play golf and basketball or master a musical instrument, and that such practice changes the activity and physical aspects of specific brain areas.
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