How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people – first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. Albert Einstein, My World View
I am at all events convinced that He does not play dice. Albert Einstein, variations, reply to letter from Max Born
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. Albert Einstein
I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am. Albert Einstein, interview George Sylvester Viereck, 1929; viz also Cosmic Religion, 1931
I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind. Albert Einstein
I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil. Albert Einstein
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation ... who is but a reflection of human frailty. Albert Einstein
I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary, for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own economic status and, also, generally speaking, to secure their influence in the political field. Albert Einstein
I do not believe in a personal God. Albert Einstein, attributions & variations
I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it. Albert Einstein, reply to letter sent to him July 1953
[I do not] carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books. Albert Einstein, asked but did not know the Speed of Sound included in the Edison Test; this is often attributed to Einstein as ‘Never memorise something that you can look up.’
If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. Albert Einstein
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. Albert Einstein, interview Viereck, 1929
If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances. Albert Einstein
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. Albert Einstein
If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts. Albert Einstein, apocryphal attribution
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? Albert Einstein
If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor. Albert Einstein
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. Albert Einstein, letter 11th March 1952
I have second thoughts. Maybe God is malicious. Albert Einstein, to Valentine Bargmann, cited Jamie Sayen, Einstein in America
I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is, however, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time. Albert Einstein, unreferenced & apocryphal
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination embraces the entire world. Albert Einstein, interview The Saturday Evening Post 1929
I never think of the future – it comes soon enough. Albert Einstein, summary of Einstein’s remarks by reporter
I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. Albert Einstein
I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. Albert Einstein
Information is not knowledge. Albert Einstein
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. Albert Einstein
In science, moreover, the work of the individual is so bound up with that of his scientific predecessors and contemporaries that it appears almost as an impersonal product of his generation. Albert Einstein, Princeton University, cited The Scientific Monthly June 1921
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. Albert Einstein, letter 11th March 1952
In order to achieve the final aim - which is one world, and not two hostile worlds – such a partial world Government must never act as an alliance against the rest of the world. The only real step toward world government is world government itself. Albert Einstein, open letter to United Nations 1947
I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on force. Albert Einstein, My World-View, 1931
It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience. Albert Einstein, The Herbert Spencer lecture 10th June 1933
It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing – a somewhat unfamiliar conception for the average mind. Furthermore, the equation E = MC², in which energy is put equal to mass, multiplied by the square of the velocity of light, showed that very small amounts of mass may be converted into a very large amount of energy and vice versa. The mass and energy were in fact equivalent, according to the formula mentioned before. This was demonstrated by Cockcroft and Walton in 1932, experimentally. Albert Einstein, Atomic Physics, 1948
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. Albert Einstein
It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer. Albert Einstein
It is only to the individual that a soul is given. Albert Einstein, attributed
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. Albert Einstein
It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure. Albert Einstein
It would not be difficult to come to an agreement as to what we understand by science. Science is the century-old endeavour to bring together by means of systematic thought the perceptible phenomena of this world into as thoroughgoing an association as possible. Albert Einstein, Science and Religion 1941
I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. Albert Einstein, attributed
I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. Albert Einstein
In order to achieve the final aim – which is one world, and not two hostile worlds – such a partial world Government must never act as an alliance against the rest of the world. The only real step toward world government is world government itself. Albert Einstein, open letter to United Nations 1947
I was originally supposed to become an engineer but the thought of having to expend my creative energy on things that make practical everyday life even more refined, with a loathsome capital gain as the goal, was unbearable to me. Albert Einstein
Laws alone cannot secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population. Albert Einstein
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning. Albert Einstein