Quotations from
Albert Einstein
[1879-1955]

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."  {WMail Issue #9}
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"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other
is as though everything is a miracle."  {WMail Issue #24}
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"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual
who can labor in freedom."  {WMail Issue #36}
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"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."  {WMail Issue #40}
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"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."  {Issue #62}
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"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."  {Issue #63}
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"It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."  {Issue #64}
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"Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind."
(Reader's Digest, Nov. 1973)  {Issue #70}
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"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."  {Issue #71}
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"Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them."  {blog 2/2008}
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"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."  {blog 3/2008}
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"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.”  {blog 5/2008}
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"As punishment for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.”  {blog 5/2009}
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“The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it.
Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional
rights secure.”  {blog 8/2009}

“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.”
{blog 8/2009}
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."  {blog 9/2009}
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“The most beautiful thing [that] we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source
of all true art and science.”  {blog 12/2009}
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“The only reason for Time is so [that] everything doesn't happen at once.”  {blog 1/2010}
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"Never do anything against conscience – even if the state demands it.”  {blog 4/2010}
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"Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.”  {blog 3/2011}
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"Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value."  {blog 7/2011}
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“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything learned in school.”
['Ideas and Opinions' 1954]  {blog 8/2011}
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"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the
attention [that] it deserves.”  {blog 5/2012}

"Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act, and in that action are the seeds
of new knowledge.”  {blog 5/2012}
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“Out of the mysterious we discover the undiscovered.”  {blog 6/2012}
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“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”  {blog 7/2012}

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”  {blog 7/2012}
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“If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, [then] you don't understand it yourself.”  {blog 10/2012}
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"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."  {blog 11/2012}

“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.”  {blog 11/2012}
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“If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing [that] it is stupid.”  {blog 1/2013}

“You never fail until you stop trying.”  {blog 1/2013}
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“Common sense needs constant reappraisal.”  {blog 3/2013}
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“If the bee disappears from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than four years left to live.”
~~ wrongly attributed to Albert Einstein {appeared in the 1990s}  {blog 5/2013}
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“The more I study physics, the more I am drawn to metaphysics.”  {blog 2/2014}
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“I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary, for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own
economic status and, also, generally speaking, to secure their influence in the political field.”  {blog 4/2014}

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”  {blog 4/2014}

“If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.”  {blog 4/2014}
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“If you can't explain it simply, [then] you don't understand it well enough.”  {blog 9/2014}
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“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”  {blog 3/2015}
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“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master.
For this reason, mastery demands all of a person.”  {blog 6/2015}
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“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius
– and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”  {blog 9/2015}
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“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”  {blog 10/2015 & 5/2020}
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“Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.”  {blog 11/2015}
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“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”  {blog 12/2015 & 4/2024}
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“Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.”  {blog 3/2016 & 12/2024}
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“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”  {blog 4/2016}

"If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”  {blog 4/2016}
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“It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.”  {blog 5/2016}
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“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.”  {blog 6/2016 & 8/2019}
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Albert Einstein was once asked how it felt to be the smartest man alive. Einstein's reply was
"I don't know, you'll have to ask Nikola Tesla.”  {blog 8/2016}
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“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”  {blog 9/2016}
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“Mathematics are well and good but Nature keeps dragging us around by the nose.”
(quoted by A.P. French in 'Einstein: A Centenary Volume')  {blog 10/2016}
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“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”  {blog 1/2017}
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“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.”  {blog 4/2017}
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“Be a voice not an echo.”  {blog 5/2017}
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“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.”  {blog 5/2017}
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“The only source of knowledge is experience.”  {blog 3/2018}
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“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”  {blog 5/2018}
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“Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.”  {blog 7/2018}
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“The real purpose of Socialism is precisely to advance beyond the predatory phase of human development.”  {blog 9/2018}
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“There is a separation of colored people from white people in the United States. That separation is not a disease of the colored people.
It is a disease of white people. I do not intend to be quiet about it.”  {blog 12/2018}
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“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”  {blog 8/2019}
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“The most beautiful thing [that] we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger,
who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” - in 'What I Believe'  {blog 12/2019}
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“If God created the world, his primary concern was certainly not to make its understanding easy for us.”  {blog 7/2021}
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“Don't let criticism destroy your dreams. The only person who never makes a mistake is someone who does nothing.”  {blog 1/2022}
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“You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.”  {blog 10/2022}

“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”  {blog 10/2022}
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“Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.”  {blog 1/2023}
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“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”  {blog 4/2024}

“Love is a better master than duty.”  {blog 4/2024}

Einstein Quotations Not Yet Used on the Blog

"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment.
Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."   ['Ideas and Opinions' 1954]

"Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations.
All this is put in your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honor it, add to it,
and one day faithfully hand it on to your children."

"Feeling and longing are the motive forces behind all human endeavor and human creations."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning."

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking
we were at when we created them."

"The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."

"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift
of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."

"I have little patience with scientists who take a board of wood, look for its thinnest part,
and drill a great number of holes where drilling is easy."

"Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he senses it.
But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people."

"In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity."

"Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again
to exercise his will - his personal responsibility."

"The ideas that have lighted my way have been kindness, beauty, and truth."

"The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance, and even
our very existence depends on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to our lives."

"The only real valuable thing is intuition."

"I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false.
The hundredth time I am right."

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted
to remain children all our lives."

"If World War III is fought with nuclear weapons, then World War IV will be fought with stones."

"These thoughts did not come in any verbal formulation. I rarely think in words at all.
A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words afterward."

"If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew."   [address at the Sorbonne, Paris]

"It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man."

"Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem, in my opinion, to characterize our age."
['Out of My Later Years']

"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."

"We have to do the best that we can."

"Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen."

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

"It is not the result of scientific research that enobles humans and enriches their nature, but the struggle to understand
while performing creative and open-minded intellectual work."

"It is a grave error to suppose that the joy of seeing and seeking can be furthered by compulsion or sense of duty."
{In German: "Es ist eine großer Irrtum, zu glauben daß die Freude am Schauen und am Suchen durch Zwang oder Oflichtgefühl gefördert werden kann."}

"The most important tool of the theoretical physicist is his wastebasket."

"Solutions are easy. The real difficulty lies in discovering the problem."

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

"Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you that mine are still greater."

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward,
then we are a sorry lot indeed."

"I simply imagine it so, then go about to prove it."

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z.
X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."

"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."   ['On Science']

"The bitter and the sweet come from the outside, the hard from within, from one's own efforts."
['Out of My Later Years']

"Nature to [Newton] was an open book, whose letters he could read without effort."
(quoted by G. Simmons in "Calculus Gems" 1992)

"How can it be that mathematics, being after all a product of human thought independent of experience,
is so admirably adapted to the objects of reality?"

"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."   ['Sidelights on Relativity']

"Raffiniert ist der Herr Gott, aber boshaft ist er nicht."
"God is subtle, but he is not malicious."   (inscribed in Fine Hall, Princeton University)