Lev Davidovich Landau (22 January 1908- 1 April 1968) is a Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. His accomplishments include the independent co-discovery of the density matrix method in quantum mechanics (alongside John von Neumann), the quantum mechanical theory of diamagnetism, the theory of superfluidity, the theory of second-order phase transitions, the Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity, the theory of Fermi liquid, the explanation of Landau damping in plasma physics, the Landau pole in quantum electrodynamics, the two-component theory of neutrinos, and Landau’s equations for S matrix singularities.
He received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics for his development of a mathematical theory of superfluidity that accounts for the properties of liquid helium II at a temperature below 2.17 K (−270.98 °C).
Landau considered his biggest creation the “happiness formula” and treated it very seriously. Landau’s happiness formula consists of three elements. In his opinion a person needs three things to be happy – work, love and communication with people. He considered work the most important of all.
Landau treated love seriously as well. He considered that the happiest people spend 30% of their time on love. For instance each person must make people close to him/her happy. He believed that husband must make his wife happy. “A husband cannot be happy if his wife is not happy.”
Landau also had many friends and acquaintances, their doors were always open and their house was always full of people.
Here are 10 quotes of this genius physicist about life and happiness.
1. Everybody has a capacity for a happy life. All these talks about how difficult times we live in, that’s just a clever way to justify fear and laziness.
2. It is better to pretend happy than truly consider oneself unhappy.
3. A person has to strive for happiness, it should be his/her goal and there is no way to give up.
4. It is important to do everything with enthusiasm, it brightens life.
5. To be bored is the greatest sin.
6. We live once and there will be no other life. You should enjoy every moment and use any opportunity to make your life brighter.
7. People do not want to understand that happiness is inside us. Everybody loves to complicate and I just the opposite, I seek simplicity. One should not confuse “complicated” and “difficult”. One should learn thinking and dominate the thoughts. Only in such case there will be no empty fears and alarms.
8. The role of a loser is not for me, I have other plans.
9. Many people do not like unpleasant thoughts. They even cannot think them over. While the ability to figure out the circumstances of own life is not given to everybody. The important thing here is to learn analyzing the happenings, understand the causes which do not allow to be happy and enjoy life. Only the one who learns doing it will be able to easily make decisions and live happily.
10. Despondent person is a lost person. Despondency swallows like a bog and instead of figuring out the circumstances of the own life some prefer not to think of them and indulge in despondency.
