In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in the case of poetry, it's the exact opposite!
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Dirac contrasts science, which aims for universal understanding of new truths, with poetry, which relies on what is already known.
- In plain terms
- Science tries to tell everyone something new, while poetry does the opposite.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize how science and poetry differ in communication goals.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can poetry teach something new?
- How do you explain complex ideas?
Another view
Poetry often introduces new insights rather than relying on the known.
More from Paul Dirac
The underlying physical laws necessary for the mathematical theory of a large part of physics and the whole of chemistry are thus completely known, and the dif…
Permalink to quote #1 It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting beauty in one's equations, and if one has really a sound insight, one is on a sure line of pr…
Permalink to quote #3 One possibility in this direction is to regard, classically, an electron as the end of a single Faraday line of force. The electric field in this picture from …
Permalink to quote #4
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