Lev Landau

thick books learn cemetery antique ideas rest

"From thick books one can not learn anything new. A thick book is a cemetery where antiquated ideas are laid to rest."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

mathematician crazy

"We mathematicans are all a bit crazy."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

cosmologist error doubt

"Cosmologists are often in error, but never in doubt."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

work new interesting

"This work contains many things which are new and interesting. Unfortunately, everything that is new is not interesting, and everything which is interesting, is not new."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

capacity happy life difficult times justify fear laziness

"Everybody has a capacity for a happy life. All these talks about how difficult times we live in, that's just a clever way to justify fear and laziness."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

method discovery important

"A method is more important than a discovery, since the right method will lead to new and even more important discoveries."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

physics important approximation

"Most important part of doing physics is the knowledge of approximation."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

product optimism knowledge constant

"Product of optimism and knowledge is a constant."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

money exponent calculate precisely

"Money is in the exponent. And exponent needs to be calculated precisely."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)

prime numbers added multiplied

"Why add prime numbers? Prime numbers are made to be multiplied, not added."

—Lev Landau (1908-1968)