Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Quotes

• Only a life lived for others is a life worth while.

• If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, Of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

• 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 fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.

• "My life is a simple thing that would interest no one. It is a known fact that I was born and that is all that is necessary.

• "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.

• "Imagination is more important than knowledge.

• "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

• Each of us visits this Earth involuntarily, and without an invitation. For me, it is enough to wonder at the secrets.

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

• Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.

• Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.

• Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

• He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.

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

• The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.

• Theories should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.

• I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details.

• You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.

• ...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.

• God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.