Niels Bohr Quotes

It is the hallmark of any deep truth that its negation is also a deep truth.

The old saying of the two kinds of truth. To the one kind belongs statements so simple and clear that the opposite assertion obviously could not be defended. The other kind, the so-called 'deep truths', are statements in which the opposite also contains deep truth.

You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another truth.

Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it.

The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.

I think the phrase that resonates from 'Just One Year' is something I sort of live by: 'The truth and its opposite are flip sides of the same coin.'

The opposite of every truth is just as true.

Contradiction itself, far from always being a criterion of error, is sometimes a sign of truth.

There are two sorts of truth: trivialities, where opposites are clearly absurd, and profound truths, recognised by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth

There is no idea that does not carry in itself a possible refutation, no word that does not imply its opposite.

There is a place where Contrarieties are equally True.

Life is a paradox. Every truth has its counterpart which contradicts it; and every philosopher supplies the logic his own undoing.

Everything is true; only the opposite is true too; you must believe both equally or be damned.

Truth is always paradoxical.

A great truth is a truth whose opposite is also a truth.

I guess I found it useful to realise that everything is true at once, you know? You can pull back and say, 'Everything will be fine,' but you can also be in a situation and say, 'Not everything is going to be fine.'

Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.

There are trivial truths and the great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.

Contradiction was something I really like when it is embraced in that kind of philosophy.

In contradiction and paradox, you can find truth.

I am not by any means a philosopher, although I have worked with some talented people in the discipline. But certain philosophical concepts deeply inform the way I think about the world. The idea of 'opposing truths at extremes' is a powerful concept that I came to appreciate in my twenties.

We must learn to live with contradictions, because they lead to deeper and more effective understanding.

Pushing any truth out very far, you are met by a counter-truth.

Most thoughts are only profiles of thoughts. They must be inverted and synthesized with their antipodes. Thus many philosophical writings become very interesting which would not have been so otherwise.

the truth is often a mixed message