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About this quote

What does it mean?
Science is most rewarding when empirical findings align with deep internal intuitions or mental images.
In plain terms
The best part of science is when real discoveries match the pictures in your head.
What can you take from it?
Trust your deep intuitions when they align with scientific data.

Where it applies

  • theoretical physics
  • research breakthroughs
  • conceptual modeling

Putting it to work

  • cultivate intuition
  • seek pattern matches
  • visualize hypotheses

Questions to consider

  • When have you felt a discovery match your intuition?
  • How do you balance gut feeling with data?

Another view

Intuition can sometimes lead researchers down incorrect paths without empirical checks.

More from Wolfgang Pauli

  1. This paper is so bad it is not even wrong.

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  2. If I understand Dirac correctly, his meaning is this: there is no God, and Dirac is his Prophet.

    Permalink to quote #13
  3. I don't mind your thinking slowly; I mind your publishing faster than you think.

    Permalink to quote #12

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