Wolfgang Pauli

Physics Austrian-American 1900 – 1958 673 quotes

Formulated the exclusion principle

Most quoted

"When I was young, I thought I was the best formalist of my time. I thought I was a revolutionary. When the big problems would come, I would be the one to solve them. But then the great revolution came, it was Heisenberg and Dirac who made it. I was only a classicist."

— from Self-reflection

"The layman always means, when he says 'reality,' that he is speaking of something self-evidently known; whereas to me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality."

— from Letter to Markus Fierz, 1954

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

— from Attributed to Max Planck, but often quoted by Pauli in discussions of scientific change

All quotes by Wolfgang Pauli (673)

The shekinah is the feminine aspect of God.

Essay 1948

Tikkun olam is the repair of the world.

Personal note 1953

The golem is a creation of man.

Letter 1951

Messianic times are near.

Correspondence 1952

The Zohar reveals hidden truths.

Speech 1950

Sefirot are the vessels of light.

Essay 1949

The breaking of the vessels explains evil.

Interview 1951

Sparks of divinity are in all things.

Remark 1952

The soul descends and ascends.

Letter 1950

Gilgul is reincarnation.

Personal reflection 1948

The tzaddik is the righteous one.

Essay 1953

Prayer elevates the soul.

Speech 1951

Torah is the blueprint of creation.

Interview 1952

The letters of the alphabet are sacred.

Remark 1950

Gematria unlocks meanings.

Letter 1949

The shevirat ha-kelim is the shattering.

Essay 1951

Lurianic Kabbalah is profound.

Correspondence 1952

The partzufim are configurations.

Personal note 1950

Adam Kadmon is the primordial man.

Speech 1948

The worlds are four: Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah.

Interview 1953