“When I was a fairly precocious young man I became thoroughly impressed with the futility of the hopes and strivings that chase most men restlessly through life. Moreover, I soon discovered the cruelty of that chase, which in those years was much more carefully covered up by hypocrisy and glittering words than is the case today. By the mere existence of his stomach everyone was condemned to participate in that chase. The stomach might well be satisfied by such participation, but not man insofar as he is a thinking and feeling being.”
―
Albert Einstein
“I find the idea quite intolerable that an electron exposed to radiation should choose of its own free will not only its moment to jump off but its direction. In that case I would rather be a cobbler, or even an employee in a gaming house, than a physicist.”
―
Albert Einstein
“It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.”
―
Albert Einstein
“I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever.”
―
Albert Einstein
“It is very difficult to explain this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it. The individual feels the nothingness of human desires and aims and the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves both in Nature and in the world of though. He looks upon individual existence as a sort of prison and wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole.”
―
Albert Einstein
“I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the Earth might be killed, but enough men capable of thinking, and enough books, would be left to start again, and civilization could be restored.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Even on the most solemn occasions I got away without wearing socks and hid that lack of civilization in high boots”
―
Albert Einstein
“Everyone must become their own person, however frightful that may be.”
―
Albert Einstein
“That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Student: Dr. Einstein, Aren't these the same questions as last year's [physics] final exam?
Dr. Einstein: Yes; But this year the answers are different.”
―
Albert Einstein
“One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.”
―
Albert Einstein