albert einstein

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.

A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?

A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?

All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.

An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.

Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.

As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.

Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age.

Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.

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

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.

Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler.

Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.

Force always attracts men of low morality.

God always takes the simplest way.

God does not play dice.

God may be subtle, but he isn't plain mean.

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.

Human beings must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.

I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.

I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.

I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world.

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.

I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details.


If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.

Information is not knowledge.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

Isn't it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?

It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.

It is only to the individual that a soul is given.

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.

It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature.


It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.

Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Love is a better teacher than duty.

Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events.

Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.

Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.

Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.

Never lose a holy curiosity.

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.


Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results.

Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.

Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.

Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

The environment is everything that isn't me.

The faster you go, the shorter you are.

The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.

The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.

The 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.

The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.

The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.

The only real valuable thing is intuition.

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.

The only source of knowledge is experience.

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.

The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.


There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.

To the Master's honor all must turn, each in its track, without a sound, forever tracing Newton's ground.

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.

True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

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 any talent for abstract, positive thinking.

When the solution is simple, God is answering.

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

Without deep reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.

You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I've only ever had one.

You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.