I always felt like I was meant to have been born in another era, another time.
The great object is to find the theory of the matter [of X-rays] before anyone else, for nearly every professor in Europe is now on the warpath.
All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial.
When we have found how the nucleus of atoms is built up we shall have found the greatest secret of all — except life. We shall have found the basis of everything — of the earth we walk on, of the air we breathe, of the sunshine, of our physical body itself, of everything in the world, however great or however small — except life.
Physics is the only real science. The rest are just stamp collecting.
Never say, "I tried it once and it did not work. "
A theory that you can't explain to a bartender is probably no damn good.
As you get older and as you experience and go through different things you realize you have to set boundaries. You have to for your life. You have to say this is OK and this is not OK. This is what I do for a living and this is my life. It's the only one I get and so I have to set boundaries.
For a time I would feel I belonged still to a world of straightforward facts; but the feeling would not last long. Something would turn up to scare it away.
When there is firm conquest over covetousness, they who have conquered it wake up to the how and why of life.
Real tragedy is never resolved. It goes on hopelessly for ever.