I think that’s probably a rephrasing of Einstein’s alleged quote, ”It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.” That quote as relayed by de Brolgie seems to have mutated quite a bit, changing the meaning to something more general. Of course it’s also worth pointing out that Quantum Mechanics sort of throw a superposition of wrenches into that puppy.
"Quantum mechanics pop up because the stuff we're made of isn't very small balls. It's really a manifestation of waves. How can something that's made of waves behave like particles? Let me show you:
[proceeds to pull out a length of cable, tying one end of it to some structure]
[proceeds to wave the other end, creating a wave on the cable, pointing out how the peaks move forward]
[proceeds to wave faster, creating a standing wave, pointing out the nodes]
Roughly like this. You can think of the moving peak, or the standing node, as particles - stationary or in motion. They're not really there, but you can point to them and name them. Now all the weird stuff that quantum mechanics is about - quantum tunneling, double slit experiments, etc. - appear when you stop looking at particles, and start doing the math on the underlying waves."
