Albert Einstein Act Quotations

It strikes me as unfair, and even in bad taste, to select a few of them for boundless admiration, attributing superhuman powers of mind and character to them. This has been my fate, and the contrast between the popular estimate of my powers and achievements and the reality is simply grotesque.

We can invent as many theories we like, and any one of them can be made to fit the facts. But that theory is always preferred which makes the fewest number of assumptions.

The most practical solution is a good theory.

Music has no effect on research work, but both are born of the same source and complement each other through the satisfaction they bestow

Common to all these types is the anthropomorphic character of their conception of God. In general, only individuals of exceptional endowments, and exceptionally high-minded communities, rise to any considerable extent above this level. But there is a third stage of religious experience which belongs to all of them, even though it is rarely found in a pure form: I shall call it cosmic religious feeling. It is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it.

The theory must not contradict empirical facts,

...Intelligence and character of the masses are incomparably lower than the intelligence and character of the few who produce something valuable for the community.

It is an outcome of faith that nature-as she is perceptible to our five senses-takes the character of such a well formulated puzzle.

There does, in fact, appear to be a plan.

All such action would cease if those powerful elemental forces were to cease stirring within us.

I am convinced that some political and social activities and practices of the Catholic organizations are detrimental and even dangerous for the community as a whole, here and everywhere. I mention here only the fight against birth control at a time when overpopulation in various countries has become a serious threat to the health of people and a grave obstacle to any attempt to organize peace on this planet.

The legs are the wheels of creativity.

For every action, there is a reaction.

I do not believe in free will. Schopenhauer's words: 'Man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wills,' accompany me in all situations throughout my life and reconcile me with the actions of others, even if they are rather painful to me. This awareness of the lack of free will keeps me from taking myself and my fellow men too seriously as acting and deciding individuals, and from losing my temper.

The true definition of madness is repeating the same action, over and over, hoping for a different result.

I am not a Jew in the sense that I would demand the preservation of the Jewish or any other nationality as an end in itself. Rather, I see Jewish nationality as a fact and I believe that every Jew must draw the consequences from this fact.

The same thinking and actions that created our problems cannot be used to solve them.

Only strong characters can resist the temptation of superficial analysis.

The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.

An important advance in the life of a people is the transformation of the religion of fear into the moral religion. But one must avoid the prejudice that regards the religions of primitive peoples as pure fear religions and those of the civilized races as pure moral religions. All are mixed forms, though the moral element predominates in the higher levels of social life. Common to all these types is the anthropomorphic character of the idea of God.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character; it becomes lack of power to act with courage proportionate to danger. All this must lead to the destruction of our intellectual life unless the danger summons up strong personalities able to fill the lukewarm and discouraged with new strength and resolution.

There will come a point in everyone's life , however, where only intuition can make the leap ahead, without ever knowing precisely how. One can never know why but one must accept intuition as a fact.

There is no greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the good cause.

What lead me more or less directly to the special theory of relativity was the conviction that the electromotive force acting on a body in motion in a magnetic field was nothing else but an electric field.

Thought is the organizing factor in man, intersected between the causal primary instincts and the resulting actions.

Scientific greatness is less a matter of intelligence than character; if the scientist refuses to compromise or accept incomplete answers and persists in grappling the most basic and difficult questions.

For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary. Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action: it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts.

Even the scholars in various lands have been acting as if their brains had been amputated.

We must dedicate our lives to drying up the source of war: ammunition factories.

My success wasn't so much due to intelligence, but the fact that I stuck with problems longer.

Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.

I am absolutely convinced that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward, even in the hands of the most devoted worker in this cause. The example of great and pure characters is the only thing that can produce fine ideas and noble deeds. Money only appeals to selfishness and always tempts its owners irresistibly to abuse it

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

It is abhorrent to me when a fine intelligence is paired with an unsavory character.

My life is a simple thing that would interest no one. It is a known fact that I was born, and that is all that is necessary.

Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.

Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance

I am a stronger follower of Veganism by principle, not just because of moral and aesthetic reasons. I truly believe in a Vegetarian lifestyle and I have faith and hopes in change in human destiny, thanks to the physical effects and benefits of a healthier diet and its influence on the character of the people. It will bring about some benefit and improvement to human society.

Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.

I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings

With the affairs of active human beings it is different. Here knowledge of truth alone does not suffice; on the contrary this knowledge must continually be renewed by ceaseless effort, if it is not to be lost. It resembles a statue of marble which st

The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

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

Dear Miss .I have read about sixteen pages of your manuscript ... I suffered exactly the same treatment at the hands of my teachers who disliked me for my independence and passed over me when they wanted assistants ... keep your manuscript for your s

So long as they don't get violent, I want to let everyone say what they wish, for I myself have always said exactly what pleased me.

I do not like to state an opinion on a matter unless I know the precise facts.

Fear or stupidity has always been the basis of most human actions.

The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions.

So would a Being, endowed with higher insight and more perfect intelligence, watching man and his doings, smile about man's illusion that he was acting according to his own free will.

Almost all the other fellows do not look from the facts to the theory but from the theory to the facts; they cannot get out of the network of already accepted concepts; instead, comically, they only wriggle about inside.

What physics looks for: The simplest possible system of thought which will bind together the observed facts.

You imagine that I look back on my life's work with calm satisfaction. But from nearby it looks quite different. There is not a single concept of which I am convinced that it will stand firm, and I feel uncertain whether I am in general on the right track.

One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem,above all other sciences,is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable,while those of all other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.

Here I am, just an actress with nothing to say and crowds of people turn up to see me. Yet here is Einstein and the only person who turns up for him is myself.