It's not that life has been easy, perfect or exactly as expected. I just choose to be happy and grateful no matter how it all turns out. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
Albert EinsteinOne can only continue to expect to be read if one omits everything that is unimportant.
Albert EinsteinThe grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of hypotheses or axioms.
Albert EinsteinIf one holds these high principles clearly before one's eyes, and compares them with the life and spirit of our times, then it appears glaringly that civilized mankind finds itself at present in grave danger. In the totalitarian states it is the rulers themselves who strive actually to destroy that spirit of humanity. In less threatened parts it is nationalism and intolerance, as well as the oppression of the individuals by economic means, which threaten to choke these most precious traditions.
Albert EinsteinDo not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.
Albert EinsteinEinstein was once asked how many feet are in a mile. Einstein's reply was "I don't know, why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?
Albert EinsteinThe work on satisfactory formulation of technical patents was a true blessing for me. It compelled me to be many-sided in thought, and also offered important stimulation for thought about physics. Following a practical profession is a blessing for people of my type. Because the academic career puts a young person in a sort of compulsory situation to produce scientific papers in impressive quantity, a temptation to superficiality arises that only strong characters are able to resist.
Albert EinsteinThe world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.
Albert EinsteinI am an absolute pacifist...It is an instinctive feeling. It is a feeling that possesses me, because the murder of men is disgusting.
Albert EinsteinWe act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life. All that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
Albert EinsteinThat is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don't notice that the time passes.
Albert EinsteinIn scientific thinking are always present elements of poetry. Science and music requires a thought homogeneous.
Albert EinsteinIn the temple of science are many mansions, and various indeed are they that dwell therein and the motives that have led them thither. Many take to science out of a joyful sense of superior intellectual power; science is their own special sport to which they look for vivid experience and the satisfaction of ambition; many others are to be found in the temple who have offered the products of their brains on this altar for purely utilitarian purposes.
Albert EinsteinExternal conditions can, to a certain extent, reduce, but never cancel individual repsonsibility.
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 EinsteinI cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his [sic] creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious ourselves.
Albert EinsteinStrange is our situation here on earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.
Albert EinsteinCommon sense invents and constructs no less than its own field than science does in its domain. It is, however, in the nature of common sense not to be aware of this situation.
Albert EinsteinIt is not so important where one settles down. The best thing is to follow your instincts without too much reflection.
Albert EinsteinA successful man is he who receives a great deal from his fellow men, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them. The value of a man, however, should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.
Albert EinsteinThe true definition of madness is repeating the same action, over and over, hoping for a different result.
Albert EinsteinYou can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. A life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
Albert EinsteinIn order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.
Albert EinsteinThere is separation of colored people from white people in the United States. That separation is not a disease of colored people. It is a disease of white people. I do not intend to be quiet about it.
Albert EinsteinThe most superior of scientific goals is to embrace a maximum of experiment with a minimum of hypotheses.
Albert EinsteinThe wireless telegraph is not difficult to understand. The ordinary telegraph is like a very long cat. You pull the tail in New York, and it meows in Los Angeles. The wireless is the same, only without the cat.
Albert EinsteinI cannot accept any concept of God based on the fear of life or the fear of death, or blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him I would be a liar.
Albert EinsteinWhat I see in Nature is a grand design that we can understand only imperfectly, one with which a responsible person must look at with humility.
Albert Einstein