[Max Planck] was one of the finest people I have ever known... but he really didn't understand physics, [because] during the eclipse of 1919 he stayed up all night to see if it would confirm the bending of light by the gravitational field. If he had really understood [general relativity], he would have gone to bed the way I did

All I want to do is learn to think like God. All the rest is just details.

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects.

One does not make wars less likely by formulationg rules of warfare... war cannot be humanized. It can only be eliminated.

If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances.

Applying the axioms of physical science to human life has something reprehensible to it.

I believe the most important mission of the state is to protect the individual and make it possible for him to develop into a creative personality.