Alfred Nobel Quotes

I have not the slightest pretension to call my verses poetry; I write now and then for no other purpose than to relieve depression or to improve my English.

I regard large inherited wealth as a misfortune, which merely serves to dull men's faculties. A man who possesses great wealth should, therefore, allow only a small portion to descend to his relatives. Even if he has children, I consider it a mistake to hand over to them considerable sums of money beyond what is necessary for their education. To do so merely encourages laziness and impedes the healthy development of the individual's capacity to make an independent position for himself.

The only true solution would be a convention under which all the governments would bind themselves to defend collectively any country that was attacked.

One can state, without exaggeration, that the observation of and the search for similarities and differences are the basis of all human knowledge.

The savants will write excellent volumes. There will be laureates. But wars will continue just the same until the forces of the circumstances render them impossible.

Lying is the greatest of all sins.

Perhaps my dynamite plants will put an end to war sooner than your [pacifist] congresses. On the day two army corps can annihilate each other in one second all civilized nations will recoil from war in horror.

The truthful man is usually a liar.

It is not sufficient to be worthy of respect in order to be respected.

Justice is to be found only in the imagination.

A heart can no more be forced to love than a stomach can be forced to digest food by persuasion.

A recluse without books and ink is already in life a dead man.

It is my express wish that in awarding the [Nobel Prizes] no consideration be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not.

Worry is the stomach's worst poison.

I intend to leave after my death a large fund for the promotion of the peace idea, but I am skeptical as to its results.

If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied.

Second to agriculture, humbug is the biggest industry of our age.

My home is where I work, and I work everywhere.

Good wishes alone will not ensure peace.

I am a misanthrope yet utterly benevolent.

For me writing biographies is impossible, unless they are brief and concise, and these are, I feel, the most eloquent.

Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind, and purifies his heart; an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence.

Alfred Nobel - pitiable half-creature, should have been stifled by humane doctor when he made his entry yelling into life. Greatest merits: Keeps his nails clean and is never a burden to anyone. Greatest fault: Lacks family, cheerful spirits, and strong stomach. Greatest and only petition: Not to be buried alive. Greatest sin: Does not worship Mammon. Important events in his life: None.

Contentment is the only real wealth.

Kant's style is so heavy that after his pure reason, the reader longs for unreasonableness.

Hope is nature's veil for hiding truth's nakedness.

For my part, I wish all guns with their belongings and everything could be sent to hell, which is the proper place for their exhibition and use.

My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. As soon as men will find that in one instant, whole armies can be utterly destroyed, they surely will abide by golden peace.

To his sister-in-law: What a contrast between us! You live a warm and glowing life, surrounded by loved ones whom you care for and who care for you; you are anchored in contentment. I drift about without rudder or compass, a wreck on the sea of life; I have no memories to cheer me, no pleasant illusions of the future to comfort me, or about me to satisfy my vanity. I have no family to furnish the only kind of survival that concerns us, no friends for the wholesome development of my affections, or enemies for my malice.

I am not aware that I have deserved any notoriey, and I have no taste for its buzz.