The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don't know how or why.
Albert EinsteinThe discovery of nuclear reactions need not bring about the destruction of mankind any more than the discovery of matches.
Albert EinsteinEvery serious scientific worker is painfully conscious of this involuntary relegation to an ever-narrowing sphere of knowledge, which threatens to deprive the investigator of his broad horizon and degrades him to the level of a mechanic.
Albert EinsteinWhat physics looks for: The simplest possible system of thought which will bind together the observed facts.
Albert EinsteinIt strikes me as unfair, and even in bad taste, to select a few of them for boundless admiration, attributing superhuman powers of mind and character to them. This has been my fate, and the contrast between the popular estimate of my powers and achievements and the reality is simply grotesque.
Albert Einstein