“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.”

—  Niels Bohr

As quoted in Teaching and Learning Elementary Social Studies (1970) by Arthur K. Ellis, p. 431
The above quote is also attributed to various humourists and the Danish poet Piet Hein: "det er svært at spå – især om fremtiden"
It is also attributed to Danish cartoonist Storm P (Robert Storm Petersen).
Disputed
Variant: It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future." by Niels Bohr?
Niels Bohr photo
Niels Bohr 37
Danish physicist 1885–1962

Related quotes

Yogi Berra photo

“It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future”

Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American baseball player, manager, coach

The earliest citations of this proverb, from the mid-twentieth century, refer to it as Danish in origin. See http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/20/no-predict/
Disputed, Misattributed

Errol Morris photo

“I am profoundly skeptical about our abilities to predict the future in general, and human behavior in particular.”

Errol Morris (1948) American filmmaker and writer

Source: The Anti-Post-Modern Post-Modernist http://errolmorris.com/content/lecture/theantipost.html

Alan Kay photo

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

Alan Kay (1940) computer scientist

Alan Kay (1971) at a 1971 meeting of PARC http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/09/27/invent-the-future/
Similar remarks are attributed to Peter Drucker and Dandridge M. Cole.
Cf. Dennis Gabor, Inventing the Future (1963): "The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented."
Nigel Calder reviewed Gabor's book and wrote, "we cannot predict the future, but we can invent it..."
1970s

“The best way to predict the future is to create it. ”

Форрест Шакли (1894–1985)
Abraham Lincoln photo

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Peter F. Drucker photo

“The best way to predict your future is to create it”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

“It is naïve to think that a [computer] model can predict future events on the Earth. To try to predict the future based on just one variable (CO2) in extraordinarily complex natural systems is folly.”

Ian Plimer book Heaven and Earth

Heaven and Earth (2009)

Steve Blank photo

“To predict the future, 1/3 of your team needs to be crazy.”

Steve Blank (1953) American businessman

VentureBeat "‘Blank’s Rule’: To predict the future, 1/3 of your team needs to be crazy" https://venturebeat.com/2015/12/19/blanks-rule-to-predict-the-future-13-of-your-team-needs-to-be-crazy/. December 19, 2015.

“The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to any predictable, reliable agency.”

Lewis Thomas book The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher

"Computers"<!-- , p. 113 -->
The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974)
Context: The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can get. Most of all, we need to preserve the absolute unpredictability and total improbability of our connected minds. That way we can keep open all the options, as we have in the past.

Related topics