How to start doing significant research?
What you are describing is certainly not good advising, unless you have cherry-picked some particularly negative quotes and taken them out of their context.

It is true that monolithic and groundbreaking theses are regarded higher than "stapler theses" (3-5 papers combined into a thesis), but your reputation will most likely not hinge on your thesis -- and writing several papers early is most likely better for it than writing a really good thesis. (Keep in mind: You will be applying for jobs before your thesis is out! And while those jobs will not be permanent ones, it is still very important to catch a good one, since it will influence your ability to do good research in the postdoc period. In your application, a written paper counts more than an unwritten thesis, no matter how important the latter promises to be.)

Another downside of "one big project" theses is that they are more likely to fail. If 1 of the 5 papers in your "stapler thesis" is revealed to be non-novel (and that happens in most active fields, particularly when different schools use different notation and don't communicate well with each other), your degree probably won't be delayed. If the main result of your monolith thesis turns out to be non-novel, then it may be a serious problem. And that's all assuming that you do win your bet and get that one really good result.

I have written a "stapler thesis" myself (actually the worst kind, without even a Chapter 1 that connects everything; admittedly I do a lot of exposition in my papers). I have seen many "stapler theses" from MIT students who went on to do great work. There is no stigma in them; you can do better, but someone can always do better.

As to this:


  My advisor does not like to suggest ideas/problems to me because he said he doesn't know what would be ground-breaking either or else he would do it himself than gift it to me.


The honesty is refreshing, but perhaps he should not be suggesting you to fend on your own then? Graduate students are usually not very good at recognizing which directions have promise and which are stale. This is an advisor's job. If the advisor cannot do that, he should then give the student something more concrete and incremental to do.


  My advisor said it may be good to read quantum physics as he himself is reading that and sees "lots of potential" in cross-disciplinary investigation.


This is a very dim and faraway lighthouse to steer towards. If your advisor is not offering you anything more concrete (at the very least, some reading, and not just introductory textbooks), then you can just as well ignore it for your thesis. Everyone and their dead cat knows that quantum physics is connected to probability; this is not exactly a hot scent.