Quotes from Einstein

"One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts." —Albert Einstein

A  human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part  limited in time and space. He  experiences himself, his thoughts and  feelings as something separate   from the rest — a kind of optical  delusion of his consciousness. The  striving to free oneself from this  delusion is the one issue of  true  religion. Not to nourish it but to  try to overcome it is the way  to  reach the attainable measure of peace  of mind. ~  Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921

“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” 
—Albert Einstein

 "The only real valuable thing is intuition." ( Not for me - Krishna)

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

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

A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience. ( Correct-K)

I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.

The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.

I am very smart. But not as strong-hearted as all the workers on earth for he toils endlessly and does it all to feed his family while I do it merely for solving an impossible puzzle.

Our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing power to make great decisions for good or evil.

A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.

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

I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth — rocks!

 "Imagination is more important than knowledge." (My view: Einstein must have thought about informed imagination when he said those words. Otherwise imagination without knowledge is like having only wings and no feet! What will your work stand on then? Absurdity! Everybody imagines things but only a few things make sense and these are definitely based on knowledge and necessity which are important aspects for scientific inventions and discoveries - Krishna)

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

"Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But I do not doubt that the lion belongs to it even though he cannot at once reveal himself because of his enormous size".

In living through this "great epoch," it is difficult to reconcile oneself to the fact that one belongs to that mad, degenerate species that boasts of its free will. How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of good will! In such a place even I should be an ardent patriot!

How does it happen that a properly endowed natural scientist comes to concern himself with epistemology? Is there not some more valuable work to be done in his specialty? That's what I hear many of my colleagues ask, and I sense it from many more. But I cannot share this sentiment. When I think about the ablest students whom I have encountered in my teaching — that is, those who distinguish themselves by their independence of judgment and not just their quick-wittedness — I can affirm that they had a vigorous interest in epistemology. They happily began discussions about the goals and methods of science, and they showed unequivocally, through tenacious defense of their views, that the subject seemed important to them.

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.

When a man after long years of searching chances on a thought which discloses something of the beauty of this mysterious universe, he should not therefore be personally celebrated. He is already sufficiently paid by his experience of seeking and finding. 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.

[I do not] carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books. ...The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.

"As I have said so many times, God doesn't play dice with the world."

Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious.

If A is success in life, then A = x + y + z. Work is x, play is y and z is keeping your mouth shut.

Science is international but its success is based on institutions, which are owned by nations. If therefore, we wish to promote culture we have to combine and to organize institutions with our own power and means. When asked the question, “Why a ‘Jewish’ University?”

I believe that whatever we do or live for has its causality; it is good, however, that we cannot see through to it.

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

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcibly unless you wipe out every man, woman, and child. Unless you wish to use such drastic measures, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resort to arms.

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.

All of science is nothing more than the refinement of everyday thinking.

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.

Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem—in my opinion—to characterize our age.

 "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

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

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

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

8. "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

9. "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

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

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

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

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

14. "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

15. "When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours. That's relativity."

16. "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." (what?!)

17. "What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world."

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

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

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

21. "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

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

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

24. "Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them."

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

26. "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

34. "Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted counts."

35. "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though
nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

36. "If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it." ( I wonder why he treated his first wife so badly when he said these words himself!)
37. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. 

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

39. The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving by

40. The illusion that we are separate from one another is an optical delusion of our consciousness.

41.  Something lives on after death? One may call it soul, spirit or life. "Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbour such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms." (Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955)

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

According to Albert Einstein, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein: “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”.