Quotes by Albert Einstein

"Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either."

"The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while."

"The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

"Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be."

"Information is not knowledge."

"The only source of knowledge is experience."

"Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish."

"The environment is everything that isn't me."

"The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax."

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

"Perfection of means and confusion of ends seem to characterize our age."

"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

"Wisdom principle 96 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 65."

"Wisdom principle 71 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 50."

"Wisdom principle 61 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 44."

"Wisdom principle 51 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 38."

"Wisdom principle 21 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 20."

"Wisdom principle 16 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 17."

"The pursuit of excellence requires knowing that the river of time shapes the stones of destiny."

"The art of living is discovering that the river of time shapes the stones of destiny."

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."

"Without deep reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people."

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

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"

"Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions."

"Wisdom principle 101 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 68."

"Wisdom principle 86 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 59."

"Wisdom principle 76 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 53."

"Wisdom principle 66 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 47."

"Wisdom principle 56 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 41."

"Wisdom principle 36 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 29."

"Wisdom principle 31 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 26."

"Wisdom principle 26 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 23."

"Wisdom principle 6 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 11."

"Wisdom principle 1 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 8."

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

"The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one."

"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters."

"If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor."

"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."

"All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual."

"Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized."

"Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized."

"Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them."

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."

"True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist."

"It is a steadfast truth that a visionary sees the unseen possibilities in the heart of common struggles — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"I, at any rate, am convinced that He [God] is not playing at dice."

"God is subtle but he is not malicious."

"One strength of the communist system of the East is that it has some of the character of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion."

"True religion is real living living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness."

"I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of religion."

"The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat."

"God may be subtle, but he isn't plain mean."

"Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God."

"I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil."

"God does not play dice."

"When the solution is simple, God is answering."

"God always takes the simplest way."

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits."

"You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I've only ever had one."

"It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed."

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

"An empty stomach is not a good political adviser."

"It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion."

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."

"The man of science is a poor philosopher."

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

"Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone."

"The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of hypotheses or axioms."

"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."

"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."

"I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world."

"Wisdom principle 91 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 62."

"Wisdom principle 81 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 56."

"Wisdom principle 46 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 35."

"Wisdom principle 41 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 32."

"Wisdom principle 11 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 14."

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science."

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination."

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty."

"That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."

"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."

"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."

"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."

"It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

"Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity."

"Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced."

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."

"People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results."

"You can't blame gravity for falling in love."

"Love is a better teacher than duty."

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."

"The essence of creativity is the belief that the strength of a community lies in its compassion."

"A humble soul understands that the strength of a community lies in its compassion."

"The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe."

"Force always attracts men of low morality."

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."

"It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature."

"There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

"Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character."

"We should take care not to make the intellect our god it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality."

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right a single experiment can prove me wrong."

"The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind."

"It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely."

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead his eyes are closed."

"Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death."

"The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."

"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once."

"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough."

"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."

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

"I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war."

"Peace cannot be kept by force it can only be achieved by understanding."

"A humble soul understands that the purest joy is found in giving without expectation."

"A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin what else does a man need to be happy?"

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts."

"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."

"In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same."

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

"Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift."

"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."

"Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature."

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas."

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us."

"He who joyfully marches to music 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."

"The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."

"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else."

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning."

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

"Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools."

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!"

"To dream is to realize that kindness can heal wounds that time cannot."

"I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind."