“If you don't understand something, break it apart; reduce it to its components. Since they are simpler than the whole, you have a much better chance of understanding them; and when you have succeeded in doing that, put the whole thing back together again.”

— Hans Christian von Baeyer

Source: Information, The New Language of Science (2003), Chapter 7, A Battle Among Giants, Reductionism and emergence, p. 54

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If you don't understand something, break it apart; reduce it to its components. Since they are simpler than the whole, …" by Hans Christian von Baeyer?

Hans Christian von Baeyer25

American physicist 1938

Related quotes

“You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then, when you have the chance to do it better, refuse to go near it.”

Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic

“I don't understand it any more than you do, but one thing I've learned is that you don't have to understand things for them to be.”

Madeleine L'Engle book A Wrinkle in Time

Source: A Wrinkle in Time

“Yeah, don't you take a break?'
'I don't have time for breaks.'
'That's the whole point of a break. When you've got no time, you need a break.”

Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979) contemporary Australian writer of novels for young adults

Source: Does My Head Look Big In This?

“Things that break - be they bones, hearts, or promises - can be put back together but will never really be whole.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

“If you seek to understand the whole universe, you will understand nothing at all. If you seek to understand yourself, you will understand to whole universe.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

“when things break, it's not the actual breaking that prevents them from getting back together again. it's because a little piece gets lost -- the two remaining ends couldn't fit together even if they wanted to. the whole shape has changed.”

David Levithan book Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Source: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

“Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.”

Margaret Atwood book Cat's Eye

Source: Cat's Eye

“I guess I don't really understand you yet,' I said. 'I'm not all that smart. It takes me a while to understand things. But if I do have time, I will come to understand you -- better than anyone else in the world ever can.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

“Suitable is the happiness when there is whole existence, and you don't have whole existence more than marriage.”

Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1512–1609) Czech rabbi

Tiferet Israel, Ch. 30

“… you realize that you don't understand yourself any better than you understand anyone else.”

Jonathan Tropper (1970) American writer

Source: This is Where I Leave You

“If you don't understand something, break it apart; reduce it to its components. Since they are simpler than the whole, you have a much better chance of understanding them; and when you have succeeded in doing that, put the whole thing back together again.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Hans Christian von Baeyer25

Related quotes

Related topics