Paul Dirac

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“In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.”

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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“The measure of greatness in a scientific idea is the extent to which it stimulates thought and opens up new lines of research.”

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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“People who equate all the different kinds of human activity to money are taking too primitive a view of things.”

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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“If one is working from the point of view of getting beauty into one's equation, ... one is on a sure line of progress.”

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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“The aim of science is to make difficult things understandable in a simpler way; the aim of poetry is to state simple things in an incomprehensible way. The two are incompatible.”

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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“Mathematics is only a tool and one should learn to hold the physical ideas in one's mind without reference to the mathematical form.”

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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“Age is, of course, a fever chill

That every physicist must fear.

He's better dead than living still

When once he's past his thirtieth year.”

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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"A theory with mathematical beauty is more likely to be correct than an ugly one that fits some experimental data."

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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"Scientific progress is measured in units of courage, not intelligence."

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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"A physical law must possess mathematical beauty."

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

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"Quantum mechanics has explained all of chemistry and most of physics."

—Paul Dirac (1902-1984)