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Who really said it

Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real

Not Niels Bohr — actually John Gribbin John Gribbin b. 1946 · British science writer & astrophysicist
Disputed In copyright

The sentence comes from Gribbin’s 1984 popular-science book In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat (p. 211, as cited by Wikiquote ↗). There it sums up the quantum picture of reality. Later writers quoted it as Bohr’s own words. No Bohr source for this wording has been found.

Last verified 3 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real” John Gribbin, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat (1984), p. 211; often misattributed to Niels Bohr.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by John Gribbin and his publisher (Bantam Books)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of John Gribbin — British science writer & astrophysicist. Theme: "Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

Where the line actually appears

Work
In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality
Author
John Gribbin
Published
1984 (Toronto; New York: Bantam Books)
Page
211 (as cited by Wikiquote)

Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.

Gribbin’s page could not be read online. The Google Books preview did not show the text, and the Internet Archive scan is lending-only. So only the sentence itself is shown here, not its surrounding paragraph. A 2002 study by Edward M. Pavlić quotes it as Gribbin’s, in a passage on what Gribbin calls “The Participatory Universe,” and gives the page reference “(211).”

In Search of Schrödinger's Cat (Bantam, 1984) at the Internet Archive

How the line traveled

  • 1984 — John Gribbin’s In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat is published by Bantam Books (catalog record ↗). Wikiquote ↗ names its page 211 as the source of the line.
  • 1986 — A. C. Weisbecker’s Cosmic Banditos prints the line as an epigraph credited “— Neils Bohr” (Open Library full-text search ↗).
  • 2002 — Edward M. Pavlić’s Crossroads Modernism credits Gribbin and gives the page reference “(211)”, in a passage on what Gribbin calls “The Participatory Universe” (full-text snippet ↗).
  • 2014–2015 — Max Tegmark’s Our Mathematical Universe prints it as “—Niels Bohr” (snippet ↗). Russ Kick’s anthology Flash Wisdom (2015) credits it to “John Gribbin, summarizing Niels Bohr” (snippet ↗).
In copyright

The sentence appears in John Gribbin’s In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat, first published in 1984. That is a modern book by a living author, so it is under copyright in the United States. Quoting this one line for commentary is ordinary fair use. It is not in the public domain.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Why it gets pinned on Bohr

Gribbin wrote the line while explaining Bohr’s quantum ideas, and it reads like a Bohr paradox. Quote collections and books soon dropped Gribbin’s name and kept Bohr’s.

Niels Bohr Misattributed

This is the usual credit, but no Bohr paper, lecture, letter or interview with this wording has been identified. Wikiquote’s Bohr page ↗ lists it under “Misattributed” and says it is actually from Gribbin’s book.

Max Tegmark and Marcus du Sautoy (as Bohr) Repeated the Bohr credit

Tegmark’s Our Mathematical Universe prints the line with “—Niels Bohr” (snippet ↗). Wikiquote ↗ also names du Sautoy’s The Great Unknown among the books that credit Bohr.

A. C. Weisbecker, Cosmic Banditos (1986)

By 1986 the novel already used the line as an epigraph signed “— Neils Bohr” (Open Library full-text search ↗).

The words are John Gribbin’s, from In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat (1984), p. 211, according to Wikiquote ↗. They describe Bohr’s view, but they are not his words.

Context

Why the line stuck

Gribbin’s In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat was a widely read 1984 introduction to quantum physics and its competing interpretations. Pavlić quotes the line from the book’s discussion of what Gribbin calls “The Participatory Universe”. That is the idea that the quantum world has no definite reality apart from observation.

The sentence sums up that view so neatly that readers took it for a direct quotation from Bohr, the leading voice of the Copenhagen interpretation. Even a 2015 anthology that names Gribbin describes it as Gribbin “summarizing Niels Bohr”.

A science writer’s summary of Bohr, later quoted as Bohr himself.

How this was checked

Quote Investigator has no article on this line. Wikiquote’s sourced finding is the anchor here: it lists the line as misattributed to Bohr and gives Gribbin’s book, p. 211, as the source.

Gribbin’s own page could not be read directly. The Google Books preview showed no text, and the Internet Archive scan is lending-only and not full-text searchable. Two independent books that quote the line support Wikiquote’s citation: Pavlić’s Crossroads Modernism (2002) credits Gribbin with the page reference “(211)”, and Kick’s Flash Wisdom (2015) credits Gribbin.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Knowledge Truth Doubt

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Niels Bohr — Misattributeden.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote lists this line as misattributed to Bohr and traces it to Gribbin (1984), p. 211.
In Search of Schrödinger's Cat (Bantam, 1984)archive.org

Internet Archive catalog record and lending scan of the 1984 Bantam edition.
Full-text search: the phrase in printopenlibrary.org

Snippets from books that quote the line, with Bohr credits from 1986 on and Kick’s credit to Gribbin.
Pavlić citing Gribbinopenlibrary.org

Crossroads Modernism (2002) quotes the line as Gribbin’s, from “The Participatory Universe”.
In Search of Schrödinger's Caten.wikipedia.org

Background on Gribbin’s 1984 popular-science book.
John Gribbinen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the British science writer and astrophysicist.

The real author

Who John Gribbin is

John Gribbin

b. 1946 · British science writer & astrophysicist

John Gribbin (born 19 March 1946) is a British science writer and astrophysicist and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His 1984 book In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality explains quantum theory and its rival interpretations for general readers. Wikiquote identifies it as the real source of this line.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Source

Gribbin, John. In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality. Toronto; New York: Bantam Books, 1984, p. 211 (page as cited by Wikiquote). Often misattributed to Niels Bohr.

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