Albert Einstein Quotes

There are two different conceptions about the nature of the universe: (1) the world as a unity dependent on humanity; (2) the world as a reality independent of the human factor.

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcibly unless you wipe out every man, woman, and child. Unless you wish to use such drastic measures, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resort to arms.

I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves - this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts - possessions, outward success, luxury - have always seemed to me contemptible.

The emotional state that leads to achievements resembles that of a worshiper or the lover.

A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.

Nothing will end war unless the peoples themselves refuse to go to war.

Since I do not forsee that atomic energy is to be a great boon for a long time, I have to say that for the present it is a menace. Perhaps it is well that it should be. It may intimidate the human race into bringing order into its international affairs, which, without the presence of fear, it would not do.

when u knw ur limits u go byond them

Failure is success in progress

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that three of his fingers are pointing at himself. Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are still greater.

If everybody lived as I do, surely the writing of romance novels would never have come into being.

The American lives even more for his goals, for the future, than the European. Life for him is always becoming, never being.

When the number of factors coming into play in a phenomenological complex is too large scientific method in most cases fails. One need only think of the weather, in which case the prediction even for a few days ahead is impossible. Nevertheless, no one doubts that we are confronted with a causal connection whose causal components are in the main known to us. 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.

I thought of that while riding my bicycle.

The only mistake in life is the lesson not learned.

A man has to work so hard so that something of his personality stays alive. A tomcat has it so easy, he has only to spray and his presence is there for years on rainy days.

As to science, we may well define it for our purpose as "methodical thinking directed toward finding regulative connections between our sensual experiences".

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.

The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man.

Gradually the conviction gained recognition that all knowledge about things is exclusively a working-over of the raw material furnished by the senses. ... Galileo and Hume first upheld this principle with full clarity and decisiveness.

But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

If you do the same thing over and over again you cannot ever expect a different outcome.

I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls.

The most beautiful gift of nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see.

Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else has ever thought.

People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live.

There are few enough people with sufficient independence to see the weaknesses and follies of their contemporaries and remain themselves untouched by them.

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.

Mere thinking cannot reveal to us the highest purpose.

We cannot despair about mankind knowing that Mozart was a man.

The bitter and the sweet come from the outside, the hard from within, from one's own efforts.

The more success the quantum theory has, the sillier it looks

In my experience, the best creative work is never done when one is unhappy.

Opinions about obviousness are to a certain extent a function of time.

Capitalism has brought with it progress, not merely in production but also in knowledge.

I have never belonged wholeheartedly to country or State, to my circle of friends or even to my own family... Such isolation is sometimes bitter, but I do not regret being cut off from the understanding and sympathy of other men. I lose something by it,to be sure, but I am compensated for it in being rendered independent of the customs, opinions and prejudices of others, and am not tempted to rest my peace of mind upon such shifting foundations.

I do not play games. There is not time for it. When I get through with work, I don't want anything that requires the working of the mind.

He who cherishes the value of cultures cannot fail to be a pacifist.

Whatever your problems in math are, I assure mine are greater.

Most people stop looking when they find the proverbial needle in the haystack. I would continue looking to see if there were other needles.

The individual feels the futility of human desires and aims and the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves both in nature and in the world of thought.

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

It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists (Jews) do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.

One must take what nature gives as one finds it.

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.

I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.

If I were to start taking care of my grooming, I would no longer be my own self.

To have a better life we must keep choosing how we are living.