My sailing system set sail, make it fast, no thoughts of energy or velocity, loll back, let boat drift.

Strange is our situation here on earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.

When forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence: Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter.

...Intelligence and character of the masses are incomparably lower than the intelligence and character of the few who produce something valuable for the community.

We know nothing at all. All our knowledge is but the knowledge of schoolchildren. The real nature of things we shall never know.

If one asks the whence derives the authority of fundamental ends, since they cannot be stated and justified merely by reason, one can only answer: they exist in a healthy society as powerful traditions, which act upon the conduct and aspirations and judgments of the individuals; they are there, that is, as something living, without its being necessary to find justification for their existence.

I have reached the conviction that the abolition of the death penalty is desirable. Reasons: 1) Irreparability in the event of an error of justice, 2) Detrimental moral influence of the execution procedure on those who, whether directly or indirectly, have to do with the procedure.