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Top 25 Edward Witten Quotes (2025 Update)

Edward Witten Quote: “Quantum mechanics brought an unexpected fuzziness into physics because of quantum uncertainty, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. String theory does so again because a point particle is replaced by a string, which is more spread out.”

1. “Quantum mechanics brought an unexpected fuzziness into physics because of quantum uncertainty, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. String theory does so again because a point particle is replaced by a string, which is more spread out.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “The hardest part of research is always to find a question that’s big enough that it’s worth answering, but little enough that you actually can answer it.”

2. “The hardest part of research is always to find a question that’s big enough that it’s worth answering, but little enough that you actually can answer it.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “Even before string theory, especially as physics developed in the 20th century, it turned out that the equations that really work in describing nature with the most generality and the greatest simplicity are very elegant and subtle.”

3. “Even before string theory, especially as physics developed in the 20th century, it turned out that the equations that really work in describing nature with the most generality and the greatest simplicity are very elegant and subtle.”

— Edward Witten

Featured in: Simplicity Quotes

Edward Witten Quote: “You enter a completely new world where things aren’t at all what you’re used to.”

4. “You enter a completely new world where things aren’t at all what you’re used to.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “We know a lot of things, but what we don’t know is a lot more.”

5. “We know a lot of things, but what we don’t know is a lot more.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “There is a difference between knowing what is true and knowing why it is true.”

6. “There is a difference between knowing what is true and knowing why it is true.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “There was a long history of speculation that in quantum gravity, unlike Einstein’s classical theory, it might be possible for the topology of spacetime to change.”

7. “There was a long history of speculation that in quantum gravity, unlike Einstein’s classical theory, it might be possible for the topology of spacetime to change.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “String theory is 21 st century physics that fell accidentally into the 20th century.”

8. “String theory is 21 st century physics that fell accidentally into the 20th century.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “M stands for Magic, Mystery, or Matrixaccording to taste.”

9. “M stands for Magic, Mystery, or Matrixaccording to taste.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “But the beauty of Einstein’s equations, for example, is just as real to anyone who’s experienced it as the beauty of music. We’ve learned in the 20th century that the equations that work have inner harmony.”

10. “But the beauty of Einstein’s equations, for example, is just as real to anyone who’s experienced it as the beauty of music. We’ve learned in the 20th century that the equations that work have inner harmony.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “One very important aspect of string theory is definitely testable. That was the prediction of supersymmetry, which emerged from string theory in the early ’70s.”

11. “One very important aspect of string theory is definitely testable. That was the prediction of supersymmetry, which emerged from string theory in the early ’70s.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “Away from the safety of your home, the universe was not made for your convenience.”

12. “Away from the safety of your home, the universe was not made for your convenience.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “I have a tendency, more than most other physicists, to try to figure out everything all at once, before I publish. And even to try to figure out everything in my head, without pencil and paper.”

13. “I have a tendency, more than most other physicists, to try to figure out everything all at once, before I publish. And even to try to figure out everything in my head, without pencil and paper.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “In Einstein’s general relativity the structure of space can change but not its topology. Topology is the property of something that doesn’t change when you bend it or stretch it as long as you don’t break anything.”

14. “In Einstein’s general relativity the structure of space can change but not its topology. Topology is the property of something that doesn’t change when you bend it or stretch it as long as you don’t break anything.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “String theory is an attempt at a deeper description of nature by thinking of an elementary particle not as a little point but as a little loop of vibrating string.”

15. “String theory is an attempt at a deeper description of nature by thinking of an elementary particle not as a little point but as a little loop of vibrating string.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “As for the forces, electromagnetism and gravity we experience in everyday life. But the weak and strong forces are beyond our ordinary experience. So in physics, lots of the basic building blocks take 20th- or perhaps 21st-century equipment to explore.”

16. “As for the forces, electromagnetism and gravity we experience in everyday life. But the weak and strong forces are beyond our ordinary experience. So in physics, lots of the basic building blocks take 20th- or perhaps 21st-century equipment to explore.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “One of the basic things about a string is that it can vibrate in many different shapes or forms, which gives music its beauty.”

17. “One of the basic things about a string is that it can vibrate in many different shapes or forms, which gives music its beauty.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “I have a much easier time imagining how we would understand the big bang, even though we can’t do it yet, than I can imagine understanding consciousness.”

18. “I have a much easier time imagining how we would understand the big bang, even though we can’t do it yet, than I can imagine understanding consciousness.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “Most people who haven’t been trained in physics probably think of what physicists do as a question of incredibly complicated calculations, but that’s not really the essence of it. The essence of it is that physics is about concepts, wanting to understand the concepts, the principles by which the world works.”

19. “Most people who haven’t been trained in physics probably think of what physicists do as a question of incredibly complicated calculations, but that’s not really the essence of it. The essence of it is that physics is about concepts, wanting to understand the concepts, the principles by which the world works.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “Im actually, for the most part, a complete agnostic politically.”

20. “Im actually, for the most part, a complete agnostic politically.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “If I take the theory as we have it now, literally, I would conclude that extra dimensions really exist. They’re part of nature. We don’t really know how big they are yet, but we hope to explore that in various ways.”

21. “If I take the theory as we have it now, literally, I would conclude that extra dimensions really exist. They’re part of nature. We don’t really know how big they are yet, but we hope to explore that in various ways.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “So when you ask me how string theory might be tested, I can tell you what’s likely to happen at accelerators or some parts of the theory that are likely to be tested.”

22. “So when you ask me how string theory might be tested, I can tell you what’s likely to happen at accelerators or some parts of the theory that are likely to be tested.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “I wouldn’t have thought that a wrong theory should lead us to understand better the ordinary quantum field theories or to have new insights about the quantum states of black holes.”

23. “I wouldn’t have thought that a wrong theory should lead us to understand better the ordinary quantum field theories or to have new insights about the quantum states of black holes.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “It’s indeed surprising that replacing the elementary particle with a string leads to such a big change in things. I’m tempted to say that it has to do with the fuzziness it introduces.”

24. “It’s indeed surprising that replacing the elementary particle with a string leads to such a big change in things. I’m tempted to say that it has to do with the fuzziness it introduces.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “The theory has to be interpreted that extra dimensions beyond the ordinary four dimensions the three spatial dimensions plus time are sufficiently small that they haven’t been observed yet.”

25. “The theory has to be interpreted that extra dimensions beyond the ordinary four dimensions the three spatial dimensions plus time are sufficiently small that they haven’t been observed yet.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “As of now, string theorists have no explanation of why there are three large dimensions as well as time, and the other dimensions are microscopic. Proposals about that have been all over the map.”

26. “As of now, string theorists have no explanation of why there are three large dimensions as well as time, and the other dimensions are microscopic. Proposals about that have been all over the map.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “As far as extra dimensions are concerned, very tiny extra dimensions wouldn’t be perceived in everyday life, just as atoms aren’t: we see many atoms together but we don’t see atoms individually.”

27. “As far as extra dimensions are concerned, very tiny extra dimensions wouldn’t be perceived in everyday life, just as atoms aren’t: we see many atoms together but we don’t see atoms individually.”

— Edward Witten

Edward Witten Quote: “We have one real candidate for changing the rules; this is string theory. In string theory the one-dimensional trajectory of a particle in spacetime is replaced by a two-dimensional orbit of a string. Such strings can be of any size, but under ordinary circumstances they are quite tiny,... a value determined by comparing the predictions of the theory for Newton’s constant and the fine structure constant to experimental values.”

28. “We have one real candidate for changing the rules; this is string theory. In string theory the one-dimensional trajectory of a particle in spacetime is replaced by a two-dimensional orbit of a string. Such strings can be of any size, but under ordinary circumstances they are quite tiny,... a value determined by comparing the predictions of the theory for Newton’s constant and the fine structure constant to experimental values.”

— Edward Witten

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