Max Born

1882–1970 · German-Jewish physicist and mathematician

Topics: learning, simplicity, creativity, life

• I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed.

  — Max Born

• Every object that we perceive appears in innumerable aspects. The concept of the object is the invariant of all these aspects.

  — Max Born

• If God has made the world a perfect mechanism, He has at least conceded so much to our imperfect intellect that in order to predict little parts of it, we need not solve innumerable differential equations, but can use dice with fair success.

  — Max Born

• The scientist's urge to investigate, like the faith of the devout or the inspiration of the artist, is an expression of mankind's longing for something fixed, something at rest in the universal whirl: God, Beauty, Truth.

  — Max Born

• Intellect distinguishes between the possible and the impossible; reason distinguishes between the sensible and the senseless. Even the possible can be senseless.

  — Max Born