The assumption of an absolute determinism is the essential foundation of every scientific enquiry. Max Planck More Quotes by Max Planck More Quotes From Max Planck Both religion and natural science require a belief in God for their activities, to the former He is the starting point, and to the latter the goal of every thought process. To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view. Max Planck godviewsscience This is one of man's oldest riddles. How can the independence of human volition be harmonized with the fact that we are integral parts of a universe which is subject to the rigid order of nature's laws? Max Planck naturemenscience There is no matter as such—mind is the matrix of all matter. Max Planck atomsmattermind An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer. Max Planck natureanswersscience Physical changes take place continuously, while chemical changes take place discontinuously. Physics deals chiefly with continuous varying quantities, while chemistry deals chiefly with whole numbers. Max Planck chemistrynumbersscience New scientific ideas never spring from a communal body, however organized, but rather from the head of an individually inspired researcher who struggles with his problems in lonely thought and unites all his thought on one single point which is his whole world for the moment. Max Planck lonelystrugglespring Nature prefers the more probable states to the less probable because in nature processes take place in the direction of greater probability. Heat goes from a body at higher temperature to a body at lower temperature because the state of equal temperature distribution is more probable than a state of unequal temperature distribution. Max Planck bodynaturescience We cannot rest and sit down lest we rust and decay. Health is maintained only through work. And as it is with all life so it is with science. We are always struggling from the relative to the absolute. Max Planck healthhard-workstruggle A new truth always has to conend with many difficulties. If it were not so, it would have been discovered much sooner. Max Planck difficultyhas-beensifs The highest court is in the end one's own conscience and conviction-that goes for you and for Einstein and every other physicist-and before any science there is first of all belief. For me, it is belief in a complete lawfulness in everything that happens. Max Planck beliefsciencefirsts It is impossible to make a clear cut between science, religion, and art. The whole is never equal simply to the sum of its various parts. Max Planck cuttingimpossibleart A scientist is happy, not in resting on his attainments but in the steady acquisition of fresh knowledge. Max Planck attainmentacquisitionscientist Ego is the immediate dictate of human consciousness. Max Planck egoconsciousnesshumans Insight must precede application. Max Planck applicationinsight The entire world we apprehend through our senses is no more than a tiny fragment in the vastness of Nature. Max Planck naturescienceworld No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days. Max Planck inner-peacehappinessmen Religion and natural science are fighting a joint battle in an incessant, never-relaxing crusade against skepticism and dogmatism, against disbelief and against superstition, and the rallying cry in this crusade has always been, and will always be, 'On to God.' Max Planck rallying-crybattlefighting Those [scientists] who dislike entertaining contradictory thoughts are unlikely to enrich their science with new ideas. Max Planck scientistscienceideas Religion belongs to the realm that is inviolable before the law of causation and therefore closed to science. Max Planck realmslawscience We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up until now, that they will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future. Max Planck futurelawscience
