albert Einstein
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to enhance all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”
“An empty stomach is not a good political advisor.”
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”
“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
“Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach.”
“Gravitation cannot be held responsible for falling in love.”
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
“He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.”
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
“I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.”
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
“I love to travel, but hate to arrive.”
“I never think of the future--it will come soon enough.”
“I think and think for months and years, ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.”
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.”
“If they want to see me, here I am. If they want to see my clothes, open my closet and show them my suits.” [when his wife asked him to change clothes to meet the German Ambassador]
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
“Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.”
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
“It is high time that the ideal of success should be replaced by the ideal of service.”
“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.”
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.”
“Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind.”
“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.”
“Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.”
“Only two things are certain: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not certain about the universe.”
“Perfection of means and confusion of ends seem to characterize our age.”
“Politics is more difficult that physics.”
“Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.”
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
“Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe.”
“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.”
“Since I do not foresee that atomic energy is to be a great boon for a long time, I have to say that for the present it is a menace. Perhaps it is well that it should be. It may intimidate the human race into bringing order into its international affairs, which, without the pressure of fear, it would not do.”
“So long as there are men there will be wars.”
“Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not.”
“The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.”
“The ideals that have lighted my way and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty and Truth.”
“The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unhappy but hardly fit for life.”
“The most aggravating thing about the younger generation is that I no longer belong to it.”
“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.”
“The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.”
“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one... I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.”
“The search for truth is more precious than its possession.”
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”
“Truth is what stands the test of experience.”
“Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.”
“When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.” [in the Mar. 14, 1949 issue of the New Chronicle]
“Where there is love there is no question.”