All the fifty years of conscious brooding have brought me no closer to answer the question, "What are light quanta?" Of course today every rascal thinks he knows the answer, but he is deluding himself.

Thinking like we (always) have is what got us where we are. It is not going to get us where we are going.

The history of scientific and technical discovery teaches us that the human race is poor in independent and creative imagination.

I am exclusively occupied with the problem of gravitation and hope with the help of a local mathematician friend [Marcel Grossman] to overcome all the difficulties. One thing is certain, however, that never in life have I been quite so tormented. A great respect for mathematics has been instilled within me, the subtler aspects of which, in my stupidity, I regarded until now as pure luxury.

Balance in large measure is knowing the things that can be changed, putting them in proper perspective, and recognizing the things that will not change."

People should be more like animals . . . they should be more intuitive; they should not be too conscious of what they do while they do it.

Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression on our nature. If the whole world adopts vegetarianism, it can change the destiny of humankind.