Albert Einstein

• "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.“
• "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.“
• "Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age.“
• "Perfection of means and confusion of ends seem to characterize our age.“
• "It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.“
• "Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.“
• "True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.“
• "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.“
• "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.“
• "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.“
• "The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.“
• "Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.“
• "I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.“
• "The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.“
• "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.“
• "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.“
• "Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.“
• "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.“
• "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.“
• "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.“
• "The environment is everything that isn't me.“
• "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.“
• "The only source of knowledge is experience.“
• "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.“
• "It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion.“
• "That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.“
• "God always takes the simplest way.“
• "If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.“
• "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.“
• "It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion.“
• "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.“
• "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.“
• "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.“
• "The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.“
• "When the solution is simple, God is answering.“
• "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.“
• "That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.“
• "I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty.“
• "God always takes the simplest way.“
• "God does not play dice.“
• "I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil.“
• "I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world.“
• "We should take care not to make the intellect our god it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.“
• "Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.“
• "God may be subtle, but he isn't plain mean.“
• "If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.“
• "An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.“
• "He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead his eyes are closed.“
• "I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil.“
• "Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.“
• "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.“
• "Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.“
• "It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.“
• "You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I've only ever had one.“
• "A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin what else does a man need to be happy?“
• "The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat.“
• "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.“
• "If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.“
• "Imagination is more important than knowledge.“
• "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.“
• "I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty.“
• "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.“
• "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.“
• "I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.“
• "To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.“
• "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.“
• "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.“
• "Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.“
• "Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.“
• "We should take care not to make the intellect our god it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.“
• "Information is not knowledge.“
• "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.“
• "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.“
• "Information is not knowledge.“
• "Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.“
• "Imagination is more important than knowledge.“
• "The only source of knowledge is experience.“
• "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.“
• "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.“
• "The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.“
• "There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.“
• "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.“
• "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?“
• "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.“
• "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.“
• "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.“
• "The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat.“
• "I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.“
• "The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.“
• "Without deep reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.“
• "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.“
• "Love is a better teacher than duty.“
• "You can't blame gravity for falling in love.“
• "People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results.“
• "Force always attracts men of low morality.“
• "You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.“
• "He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.“
• "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.“
• "Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.“
• "Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.“
• "We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.“
• "Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.“
• "It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature.“
• "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.“
• "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!“
• "Peace cannot be kept by force it can only be achieved by understanding.“
• "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.“
• "Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.“
• "Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.“
• "The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.“
• "That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.“
• "The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while.“
• "The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.“
• "Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.“
• "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.“
• "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 am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of religion.“
• "True religion is real living living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.“
• "One strength of the communist system of the East is that it has some of the character of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.“
• "It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion.“
• "Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.“
• "Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.“
• "Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.“
• "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.“
• "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right a single experiment can prove me wrong.“
• "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.“
• "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.“
• "To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.“
• "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.“
• "The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of hypotheses or axioms.“
• "Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.“
• "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.“
• "The man of science is a poor philosopher.“
• "It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature.“
• "All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.“
• "Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.“
• "One strength of the communist system of the East is that it has some of the character of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.“
• "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.“
• "Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.“
• "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.“
• "Love is a better teacher than duty.“
• "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.“
• "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.“
• "I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.“
• "There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.“
• "Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.“
• "Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.“
• "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.“
• "If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.“
• "The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.“
• "Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.“
• "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.“
• "He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.“
• "The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.“
• "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.“
• "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.“
• "It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.“
• "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 will be killed.“
• "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.“
• "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.“
• "The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while.“

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