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Albert Einstein
412 quotes
“My political ideal is democracy. Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who are led should not be driven, and they should be allowed to choose their leader.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am convinced that degeneracy follows every autocratic system of violence, for violence inevitably attracts moral inferiors.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Time has proved that illustrious tyrants are succeeded by scoundrels.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The man who enjoys marching in line and file to the strains of music falls below my contempt; he received his great brain by mistake – the spinal cord would have been amply sufficient.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Heroism at command, this senseless violence, this accursed bombast of patriotism – how intensely I despise them! War is low and despicable, and I had rather be smitten to shreds than participate in such doings.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am strongly drawn to the simple life and am often oppressed by the feeling that I am engrossing an unnecessary amount of the labour of my fellow-men. I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on force. I also consider that plain living is good for everybody, physically and mentally.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I gang my own gait and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties I have never lost an obstinate sense of detachment, of the need for solitude — a feeling which increases with the years.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1815 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in European Civilization and Politics Since 1815 (1938) by Erik Achorn, p. 723. amd in his obituary in The New York Times (19 April 1955)
“It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we dimly perceive, and to try humbly to comprehend an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Introduction to Philosophy (1935) by George Thomas White Patrick and Frank Miller Chapman, p. 44
“Zahlreich sind die Lehrkanzeln, aber selten die weisen und edlen Lehrer. Zahlreich und groß sind die Hörsäle, doch wenig zahlreich die jungen Menschen, die ehrlich nach Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit dürsten. Zahlreich spendet die Natur ihre Dutzendware, aber das Feinere erzeugt sie selten.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own. I am often worried at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not believe in freedom of the will. Schopenhauer's words: "Man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wills" accompany me in all situations throughout my life and reconcile me with the actions of others even if they are rather painful to me. This awareness of the lack of freedom of will preserves me from taking too seriously myself and my fellow men as acting and deciding individuals and from losing my temper.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“According to my conviction it cannot be doubted that the severe economic depression is to be traced back for the most part to internal economic causes; the improvement in the apparatus of production through technical invention and organization has decreased the need for human labor, and thereby caused the elimination of a part of labor from the economic circuit, and thereby caused a progressive decrease in the purchasing power of the consumers. - as quoted in Robert Shiller's 2020 lecture at Princeton”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most of us prefer to look outside rather than inside ourselves; for in the latter case we see but a dark hole, which means: nothing at all.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: letter to Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, quoted in Einstein, Albert, Otto Nathan, and Heinz Norden. Einstein on Peace. Edited by Otto Nathan and Heinz Norden. Preface by Bertrand Russell. New York, 1960., page 567
“Einstein's manner was full of charm and bonhomie. He enjoyed a joke and had many a jibe at the Nazi Professors, one hundred of whom in a book had condemned his theory. "Were I wrong," he said, "one professor would have been quite enough." Also, in speaking of Nazis, he once said: "I thought I was a Physicist, I did not bother about being a Jew until Hitler made me conscious of it.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jacob Epstein, Let There Be Sculpture: An Autobiography (1940), page 95
“My political ideal is Democratic ... Force always attracts men of low morality.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From Mein Weltbild (1934), published in English as The World As I See It (1934). See also Ideas and Opinions: Based on Mein Weltbild, 1954.
“All knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it. Propositions arrived at by purely logical means are completely empty as regards reality. Because Galileo saw this, and particularly because he drummed it into the scientific world, he is the father of modern physics – indeed, of modern science altogether.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Method of Theoretical Physics" (1934) from Einstein's essays in science. Translated by Alan Harris. Dover (2009). pp. 12–21. ISBN 9780486470115.
“In the light of knowledge attained, the happy achievement seems almost a matter of course, and any intelligent student can grasp it without too much trouble. But the years of anxious searching in the dark, with their intense longing, their alternations of confidence and exhaustion, and the final emergence into the light—only those who have experienced it can understand that.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes on the Origin of the General Theory of Relativity" (1934) Mein Weltbild, published in English as, The World As I See It. See also Ideas and Opinions: Based on Mein Weltbild (1954) ed., .
“The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice and the desire for personal independence — these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my stars that I belong to it.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From Mein Weltbild (1934), published in English as The World As I See It (1934). See also Ideas and Opinions: Based on Mein Weltbild (1954).
“There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Atom Energy Hope is Spiked By Einstein / Efforts at Loosing Vast Force is Called Fruitless," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (29 December 1934); it was only after the breakthroughs by Enrico Fermi and others in pr…
“In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fräulein Noether was the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. One seeks the most general ideas of operation which will bring together in simple, logical and unified form the largest possible circle of formal relationships. In this effort toward logical beauty spiritual formulas are discovered necessary for the deeper penetration into the laws of nature.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Jews as a group may be powerless, but the sum of the achievements of their individual members is everywhere considerable and telling, even though those achievements were made in the face of obstacles.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“anti-Semitism is nothing but the antagonistic attitude produced in non-Jews by the Jewish group. This is a normal social reaction.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: affirmed on page 70 of Einstein from 'B' to 'Z' by John Stachel in 2001
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Morris Raphael Cohen, professor emeritus of philosophy at the College of the City of New York, defending the appointment of Bertrand Russell to a teaching position (19 March 1940).
“The development during the present century is characterized by two theoretical systems essentially independent of each other: the theory of relativity and the quantum theory. The two systems do not directly contradict each other; but they seem little adapted to fusion into one unified theory.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Fundamentals of Theoretical Physics," (1940) as quoted in Out of My Later Years (1976)
“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem—in my opinion—to characterize our age.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Common Language of Science", a broadcast for Science, Conference, London, 28 September 1941. Published in Advancement of Science, London, Vol. 2, No. 5. Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions (1954), the quote appearing on…
“People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live...[We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a letter to Otto Juliusburger, September 29, 1942. Available in Einstein Archives 38-238
“Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to high school student Barbara Lee Wilson (7 January 1943), Einstein Archives 42-606
“The only thing I can say is this: Only through permanent and faithful cooperation between the United States, Great Britain, and Russia can a lasting peace be secured.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: response to to survey questions, in New Masses (April 27, 1943)
“Without Russia [ Soviet Union ], the German bloodhounds would have already achieved their goal, or would achieve it very soon... We and our children owe a great debt of gratitude to the Russian people for having experienced such immense losses and suffering. [ Soviet Union's ] conduct of the war has made obvious her great achievement in all industrial and technical fields... and in the limitless sacrifice and exemplary self-denial of every single individual, I see proof of a strong and universal will to defend what they have won... finally, a fact of particular importance to us Jews.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist, p. 146, (2003) by Fred Jerome
“In Russia the equality of all national and cultural groups is not merely nominal but is actually practiced.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist, p. 146, (2003) by Fred Jerome
“Why is it nobody understands me and everybody likes me?”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in New York Times article "The Einstein Theory of Living; At 65 he leads the simplest of lives — and grapples with the most complex thoughts." (12 March 1944)
“I fully agree with you about the significance and educational value of methodology as well as history and philosophy of science. So many people today — and even professional scientists — seem to me like someone who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is — in my opinion — the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Robert A. Thorton, Physics Professor at University of Puerto Rico (7 December 1944) [EA-674, Einstein Archive, Hebrew University, Jerusalem]. Thorton had written to Einstein on persuading colleagues of the imp…
“Certain it is that a conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality or intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a higher order. ... This firm belief, a belief bound up with deep feeling, in a superior mind that reveals itself in the world of experience, represents my conception of God.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Essays in Science (1934) p. 11. Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions On Scientific Truth (1954) p. 261, Crown Publishers, Inc. New York, New York, USA, 1954, .
“I received your letter of June 10th. I have never talked to a Jesuit priest in my life and I am astonished by the audacity to tell such lies about me. From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Guy H. Raner Jr. (2 July 1945), responding to a rumor that a Jesuit priest had caused Einstein to convert to Christianity, quoted in an article by Michael R. Gilmore in Skeptic magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1997)
“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement on the Atomic Bomb to Raymond Swing, before 1 October 1945, as reported in Atlantic Monthly, vol. 176, no. 5 (November 1945), in Einstein on Politics, p. 373
“That is simple, my friend. It is because Politics is more difficult than physics.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Einstein when asked "Dr. Einstein, why is it that when the mind of man has stretched so far as to discover the structure of the atom we have been unable to devise the political means to keep the atom from destroying us?…
“The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today the atomic bomb has altered profoundly the nature of the world as we know it, and the human race consequently finds itself in a new habitat to which it must adapt its thinking.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Only Then Shall We Find Courage", New York Times Magazine (23 June 1946).
“Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb, I would not have lifted a finger.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Einstein discussing the letter he sent Roosevelt raising the possibility of atomic weapons. from "Atom: Einstein, the Man Who Started It All," Newsweek Magazine (10 March 1947).
“I am very smart. But not as strong-hearted as all the workers on earth for he toils endlessly and does it all to feed his family while I do it merely for solving an impossible puzzle.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his cousin Richard Einstein (October 1947)
“It is easier to denature plutonium than it is to denature the evil spirit of man.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Real Problem Is in the Hearts of Men, The New York Times Magazine (June 23, 1946)
“A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From "Atomic Education Urged by Einstein", New York Times (25 May 1946), and later quoted in the article "The Real Problem is in the Hearts of Man" by Michael Amrine, from the New York Times Magazine (23 June 1946). A s…
“Er ist eine Skala der Proportionen, die das Schlechte schwierig und das Gute leicht macht.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Modulor. Letter sent to Le Corbusier (1946); quoted in Modulor (1953)
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cited as conversation between Einstein and János Plesch in János : The Story of a Doctor (1947), by János Plesch, translated by Edward FitzGerald
“I agree with your remark about loving your enemy as far as actions are concerned. But for me the cognitive basis is the trust in an unrestricted causality. "I cannot hate him, because he must do what he does." That means for me more Spinoza than the prophets.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Christian maxim "Love thy enemy", in a letter to Michele Besso (6 January 1948)
“Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in the essay "To Albert Einstein's Seventieth Birthday" by Arnold Sommerfeld, Albert Einstein : Philosopher-Scientist (1949) edited by Paul A. Schilpp (p. 102). The essay, originally published as "Zum Siebzigs…