Albert Einstein Quotes

I no longer believed in the known God of the Bible, but rather in the mysterious God expressed in nature.

[Misquotation; not by Einstein.] If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. [Apparently remorseful for his role in the development of the atom bomb.]

All men are ignorant, just in different fields.

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

Imagination is the highest form of research.

It is not so very important for a person to learn facts. For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.

Man can find meaning in life only through devoting himself to society.

What is essential in the life of a man of my kind is what he thinks and how he thinks, and not what he does or suffers.

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.

One feels the insignificance of the individual, and it makes one happy.

When a blind beetle crawls over the surface of a globe he doesn't notice that the track he has covered is curved. I was lucky enough to have spotted it.

Of all the communities available to us, there is not one I would want to devote myself to except for the society of the true seekers, which has very few living members at any one time.

The only thing we can be certain of in this life is that we can be certain of nothing.

The Press, which is mostly controlled by vested interests, has an excessive influence on public opinion.

The power of imagination is the ultimate creative power.. no doubt about that. While knowledge defines all we currently know and understand.. imagination points to all we might yet discover and create. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions

I don't know what weapons will be used in the Third World War. But I can tell you what they'll use in the Fourth - rocks!

How was I able to live alone before, my little everything? Without you I lack self-confidence, passion for work, and enjoyment of life--in short, without you, my life is no life. [Written to his wife, Mileva]

To be free means to be independent, not to be influenced by what others think and say.

Imagination Is More Powerful Than Knowledge Because Knowledhe Is Limited But Imagination Is Without Boundaries

What can the schools do to defend democracy? Should they preach a specific political doctrine? I believe they should not. If they are able to teach young people to have a critical mind and a socially oriented attitude, they will have done all that is necessary.

In the view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who says there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support of such views. (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University, page 214)

A country cannot simultaneously prepare and prevent war. I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. The distinctions separating the social classes are false; in the last analysis they rest on force.

I have no extraordinary ability. I'm simply an inquisitive individual.

If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.

The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow-creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.

Don't think about why you question, simply don't stop questioning. Don't worry about what you can't answer, and don't try to explain what you can't know. Curiosity is its own reason. Aren't you in awe when you contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure behind reality? And this is the miracle of the human mind - to use its constructions, concepts, and formulas as tools to explain what man sees, feels and touches. Try to comprehend a little more each day. Have holy curiosity.

Every reminiscence is colored by the way things are today, and therefore by a delusive point of view.

We believe that an informed citizenry will act for life and not for death.

It is just as important to make knowledge live and keep it alive as to solve specific problems.

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

I appeal to all men and women, whether they be eminent or humble, to declare that they will refuse to give any further assistance to war or the preparation of war.

All meaningful and lasting change starts first in your imagination and then works its way out. Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.

How can any educated person stay away from the Greeks? I have always been far more interested in them than in science.

The dog is very smart. He feels sorry for me because I receive so much mail; that's why he tries to bite the mailman.

The truth of a theory is in your mind, not in your eyes.

In my relativity theory I set up a clock at every point in space, but in reality I find it difficult to provide even one clock in my room.

A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

Human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth.

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. It is the source of all true art and science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle.

...behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable.

God is subtle but he is not malicious.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

I simply imagine it so, then go about to prove it.

The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.

There could be no greater calamity than a permanent discord between us and the Arab people. Despite the great wrong that has been done us, we must strive for a just and lasting compromise with the Arab people Let us recall that in former times no people lived in greater friendship with us than the ancestors of these Arabs.

One can't teach a cat not to catch birds