[en] The field of elementary particle, or high energy, physics seeks to identify the most elementary constituents of nature and to study the forces that govern their interactions. Increasing the energy of a probe in a laboratory experiment increases its power as an effective microscope for discerning increasingly smaller structures of matter. Thus we have learned that matter is composed of molecules that are in turn composed of atoms, that the atom consists of a nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons, and that the atomic nucleus is a collection of protons and neutrons. The more powerful probes provided by high energy particle accelerators have taught us that a nucleon is itself made of objects called quarks. The forces among quarks and electrons are understood within a general theoretical framework called the ''standard model,'' that accounts for all interactions observed in high energy laboratory experiments to date. These are commonly categorized as the ''strong,'' ''weak'' and ''electromagnetic'' interactions. In this lecture I will describe the standard model, and point out some of its limitations. Probing for deeper structures in quarks and electrons defines the present frontier of particle physics. I will discuss some speculative ideas about extensions of the standard model and/or yet more fundamental forces that may underlie our present picture. 11 figs., 1 tab