Albert Einstein's quote

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

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.

If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.

Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.

Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. The World As I See It (Albert Einstein / ISBN:1585092878)

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

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.

Never memorize something that you can look up.

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.

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.

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

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 feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.

Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.

You never fail until you stop trying.

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious - the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

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

Black holes are where God divided by zero.

Everything must be made as simple as possible. But not simpler.

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.

It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.

If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

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

Out of clutter, find simplicity.

The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.

I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.

I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right.

Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

God did not create evil. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of God.

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.

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

I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.

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

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

A ship is always safe at the shore - but that is NOT what it is built for.

You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.

However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.

I want to know God's thoughts - the rest are mere details.

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it's beauty.

When the solution is simple, God is answering.

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.

Imagination is the highest form of research.

I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.

God is subtle but he is not malicious.

The only real valuable thing is intuition.

A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other - above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.

If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.

It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.

Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.

Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.

Somebody who only reads newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors looks to me like an extremely near-sighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else.

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

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.

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.

I believe in intuitions and inspirations...I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am.

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

I thought of that while riding my bicycle.

Common sense is what tells us the earth is flat.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.

Force always attracts men of low morality.

If there is any religion that could respond to the needs of modern science, it would be Buddhism.

The Revolution introduced me to art, and in turn, art introduced me to the Revolution!

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social enviroment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions.

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.

A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.

In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.

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.

It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

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

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

We know from daily life that we exist for other people first of all, for whose smiles and well-being our own happiness depends.

If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare me a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German, and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.

What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the World.

Past is dead Future is uncertain; Present is all you have, So eat, drink and live merry,

We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library, whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different languages. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend but only dimly suspects.

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.

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.

The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.

Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury - to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind.

My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude…

I'm not an atheist and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations.

We are all life trying to live, among other life trying to live.

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.

At least once a day, allow yourself the freedom to think and dream for yourself.

Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as hard duty. Never regard study as duty but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.

It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.

What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.

Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.

Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up.

Our separation from each other is an optical illusion.

A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

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

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.

The difference between genius and stupidity is; genius has its limits.

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.

The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity

What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.

When you trip over love, it is easy to get up. But when you fall in love, it is impossible to stand again.

Love is a better master than duty.

If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut

We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams.

Any fool can know. The point is to understand.

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.

God does not play dice with the universe. The Born-Einstein Letters 1916-55

Nothing happens until something moves.

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

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters

Time is an illusion.

The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.

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

Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work...

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed.

If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.

We all know that light travels faster than sound. That's why certain people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

What a sad era when it is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice.

Even on the most solemn occasions I got away without wearing socks and hid that lack of civilization in high boots

I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking

The only real valuable thing is intuition.

The word 'God' is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, and religious scripture a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change this.

Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.

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.

The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with joy are goodness, beauty, and truth.

The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas.

The search for truth is more precious than its possession. Ideas and Opinions

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.

Dancers are the athletes of God.

He who joyfully marches to music rank and file has already earned my contempt. He as been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom. Without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail.

Life isn't worth living, unless it is lived for someone else.

I love Humanity but I hate humans

Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.

An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.

I don't try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.

A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth.

Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.

Information is not knowledge.

My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude… Ideas and Opinions

One cannot alter a condition with the same mind set that created it in the first place.

The only source of knowledge is experience.

I see my life in terms of music.

Past is dead Future is uncertain; Present is all you have, So eat, drink and live merry.

It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.

Truth is what stands the test of experience.

If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.

Student is not a container you have to fill but a torch you have to light up. Ideas and Opinions

Excellence is doing a common thing in an uncommon way.

The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.

Everyone must become their own person, however frightful that may be.

Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.

It is harder to crack prejudice than an atom.

We experience ourselves our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

If I could do it all again, I'd be a plumber.

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

The human spirit must prevail over technology.

The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.

Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as hard duty. Never regard study as duty but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced

Intelligence is not the ability to store information, but to know where to find it.

The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking ... the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. (1945)

The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don't know how or why.

How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of good will.

Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.

The most important question a person can ask is, "Is the Universe a friendly place?

All generalizations are false, including this one.

Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.

To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.

If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity.

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

To dwell on the things that depress or anger us does not help in overcoming them. One must knock them down alone.

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.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.

It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists (Jews) do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.

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

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.

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

It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.

I asked myself childish questions and proceeded to answer them.

E=mc2 The Theory of Relativity and Other Essays

I don't pretend to understand the universe — it's much bigger than I am.

The more I learn the more I realize I don't know. The more I realize I don't know the more I want to learn.

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