“I was made acutely aware how far superior an education that stresses independent action and personal responsibility is to one that relies on drill, external authority and ambition.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being.
- Albert Einstein, 1936, responding to a child who wrote and asked if scientists pray; quoted in: Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas & Banesh Hoffmann”
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Albert Einstein
“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
“A theory is something nobody believes, except the person who made it. An experiment is something everybody believes, except the person who made it.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it isn't true.”
―
Albert Einstein
“We are all life trying to live, among other life trying to live.”
―
Albert Einstein
“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 somebody 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
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Of all the communities available to us, there is not one I would want to devote myself to except for the society of the true seekers, which has very few living members at any one time.”
―
Albert Einstein
“I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.”
―
Albert Einstein
