TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY ®  •  TODAYINSCI ®
Celebrating 24 Years on the Web
Find science on or your birthday

Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
Who said: “I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Dictionary of Science Quotations > Scientist Names Index E > Albert Einstein Quotes > Life

Thumbnail of Albert Einstein (source)
Albert Einstein
(14 Mar 1879 - 18 Apr 1955)

German-American physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.




A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the measure as I have received and am still receiving.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Dead (65)  |  Depend (238)  |  Exert (40)  |  Give In (3)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Inner (72)  |  Labor (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Measure (241)  |  Must (1525)  |  Myself (211)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outer (13)  |  Receive (117)  |  Remind (16)  |  Still (614)  |  Time (1911)

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.
— Albert Einstein
'Moral Decay', Out of My Later Years (1937, 1995), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Direct (228)  |  Existence (481)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Physical (518)  |  Religion (369)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Tree (269)

Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beaut y, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Belong (168)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Community (111)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Daily (91)  |  Daily Life (18)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Isolate (24)  |  Justice (40)  |  Life (1870)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Strive (53)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Typical (16)  |  Y (2)

Anyone who thinks science is trying to make human life easier or more pleasant is utterly mistaken.
— Albert Einstein
In 'Quotation Marks', New York Times (11 Oct 1931), XX2.
Science quotes on:  |  Anyone (38)  |  Ease (40)  |  Easier (53)  |  Human (1512)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mistaken (3)  |  More (2558)  |  Pleasantness (3)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Utterly (15)

As an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents … I congratulate you [Nikola Tesla] on the great successes of your life’s work.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Current (122)  |  Eminent (20)  |  Frequency (25)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Realm (87)  |  Success (327)  |  Nikola Tesla (39)  |  Work (1402)

As regards religion, on the other hand, one is generally agreed that it deals with goals and evaluations and, in general, with the emotional foundation of human thinking and acting, as far as these are not predetermined by the inalterable hereditary disposition of the human species. Religion is concerned with man’s attitude toward nature at large, with the establishing of ideals for the individual and communal life, and with mutual human relationship. These ideals religion attempts to attain by exerting an educational influence on tradition and through the development and promulgation of certain easily accessible thoughts and narratives (epics and myths) which are apt to influence evaluation and action along the lines of the accepted ideals.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Accessible (27)  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Agree (31)  |  Apt (9)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Certain (557)  |  Communal (7)  |  Concern (239)  |  Deal (192)  |  Development (441)  |  Disposition (44)  |  Easily (36)  |  Educational (7)  |  Emotional (17)  |  Epic (12)  |  Establish (63)  |  Evaluation (10)  |  Exert (40)  |  Far (158)  |  Foundation (177)  |  General (521)  |  Generally (15)  |  Goal (155)  |  Hereditary (7)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Relationship (2)  |  Human Species (11)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Individual (420)  |  Influence (231)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Line (100)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Myth (58)  |  Narrative (9)  |  Nature (2017)  |  On The Other Hand (40)  |  Other (2233)  |  Predetermined (3)  |  Promulgation (5)  |  Regard (312)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Religion (369)  |  Species (435)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Toward (45)  |  Tradition (76)

Enough for me the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvellous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavour to comprehend a portion, be it never so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.
— Albert Einstein
In Alan Harris (ed.), The World As I See It (1934), 242.
Science quotes on:  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Heart (243)  |  Life (1870)  |  Manifest (21)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Portion (86)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Single (365)  |  Structure (365)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Together (392)

Everyone is aware of the difficult and menacing situation in which human society–shrunk into one community with a common fate–now finds itself, but only a few act accordingly. Most people go on living their every-day life: half frightened, half indifferent, they behold the ghostly tragicomedy which is being performed on the international stage before the eyes and ears of the world. But on that stage, on which the actors under the floodlights play their ordained parts, our fate of tomorrow, life or death of the nations, is being decided.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accordingly (5)  |  Act (278)  |  Actor (9)  |  Aware (36)  |  Behold (19)  |  Being (1276)  |  Common (447)  |  Community (111)  |  Death (406)  |  Decide (50)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Ear (69)  |  Everyone (35)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fate (76)  |  Find (1014)  |  Floodlight (2)  |  Half (63)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Society (14)  |  Indifferent (17)  |  International (40)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Menace (7)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nation (208)  |  Ordain (4)  |  Part (235)  |  People (1031)  |  Perform (123)  |  Play (116)  |  Shrink (23)  |  Situation (117)  |  Society (350)  |  Stage (152)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  World (1850)

For the most part we humans live with the false impression of security and a feeling of being at home in a seemingly trustworthy physical and human environment. But when the expected course of everyday life is interrupted, we are like shipwrecked people on a miserable plank in the open sea, having forgotten where they came from and not knowing whither they are drifting. But once we fully accept this, life becomes easier and there is no longer any disappointment.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Course (413)  |  Disappointment (18)  |  Drift (14)  |  Easier (53)  |  Easy (213)  |  Environment (239)  |  Everyday (32)  |  Everyday Life (15)  |  Expect (203)  |  False (105)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Fully (20)  |  Home (184)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impression (118)  |  Interrupt (6)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Miserable (8)  |  Most (1728)  |  Open (277)  |  Part (235)  |  People (1031)  |  Physical (518)  |  Plank (4)  |  Sea (326)  |  Security (51)  |  Seemingly (28)  |  Shipwreck (8)  |  Trustworthy (14)  |  Whither (11)

For the rest of my life I will reflect on what light is.
— Albert Einstein
(1917). Quoted in Sidney Perkowitz, Empire of Light (1999), 69.
Science quotes on:  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Rest (287)  |  Thought (995)  |  Will (2350)

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. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Base (120)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bind (26)  |  Bound (120)  |  Brief (37)  |  Daily (91)  |  Daily Life (18)  |  Dead (65)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dependent (26)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Exert (40)  |  Exist (458)  |  First (1302)  |  Give In (3)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Inner (72)  |  Know (1538)  |  Labor (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Lot (151)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Must (1525)  |  Myself (211)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outer (13)  |  People (1031)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Receive (117)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Remind (16)  |  Same (166)  |  Sense (785)  |  Smile (34)  |  Sometimes (46)  |  Still (614)  |  Strange (160)  |  Sympathy (35)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tie (42)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Well-Being (5)  |  Wholly (88)

I agree with Schopenhauer that one of the most powerful motives that attracts people to science and art is the longing to escape from everyday life.
— Albert Einstein
Quoted, without citation in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Feb 1959), 85. If you know a primary source, please contact Webmaster.
Science quotes on:  |  Agree (31)  |  Art (680)  |  Attract (25)  |  Escape (85)  |  Everyday (32)  |  Everyday Life (15)  |  Life (1870)  |  Longing (19)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motive (62)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Schopenhauer (6)  |  Arthur Schopenhauer (19)  |  Science And Art (195)

I am satisfied with the mystery of life’s eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence–as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Existence (481)  |  Humble (54)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Manifest (21)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Portion (86)  |  Reason (766)  |  Satisfied (23)  |  Sense (785)  |  Structure (365)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Understand (648)

I believe with Schopenhauer that one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one’s own ever shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from personal life into the world of objective perception and thought; this desire may be compared with the townsman’s irresistible longing to escape from his noisy, cramped surroundings into the silence of high mountains, where the eye ranges freely through the still, pure air and fondly traces out the restful contours apparently built for eternity.
— Albert Einstein
Address at The Physical Society, Berlin (1918) for Max Planck’s 60th birthday, 'Principles of Research', collected in Essays in Science (1934) 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Apparently (22)  |  Art (680)  |  Belief (615)  |  Built (7)  |  Compared (8)  |  Contour (3)  |  Crudity (4)  |  Desire (212)  |  Dreariness (3)  |  Escape (85)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Everyday (32)  |  Everyday Life (15)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fetter (4)  |  Fetters (7)  |  Finely (3)  |  Freely (13)  |  High (370)  |  Hopeless (17)  |  Hopelessness (6)  |  Irresistible (17)  |  Lead (391)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Longing (19)  |  Motive (62)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Noisy (3)  |  Objective (96)  |  Pain (144)  |  Perception (97)  |  Personal (75)  |  Pure (299)  |  Range (104)  |  Restful (2)  |  Schopenhauer (6)  |  Arthur Schopenhauer (19)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Shifting (5)  |  Silence (62)  |  Still (614)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Surrounding (13)  |  Tempered (2)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Trace (109)  |  World (1850)

I cannot accept any concept of God based on the fear of life or the fear of death, or blind faith.
— Albert Einstein
As recollected from a visit some months earlier, and quoted in William Miller, 'Old Man’s Advice to Youth: “Never Lose a Holy Curiosity”', Life (2 May 1955), 62.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Based (10)  |  Blind (98)  |  Blind Faith (4)  |  Concept (242)  |  Death (406)  |  Faith (209)  |  Fear (212)  |  God (776)  |  Life (1870)

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 egotism. It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we can dimly perceive, and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature.
— Albert Einstein
From 'What I Believe: Living Philosophies XIII', Forum and Century (Oct 1930), 84, No. 4, 194. Article in full, reprinted in Edward H. Cotton (ed.), Has Science Discovered God? A Symposium of Modern Scientific Opinion (1931), 97.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Body (557)  |  Creation (350)  |  Death (406)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Fear (212)  |  Feeble (28)  |  God (776)  |  Harbor (8)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humbly (8)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Individual (420)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Life (1870)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Model (106)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Object (438)  |  Punish (8)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Reward (72)  |  Ridiculous (24)  |  Short (200)  |  Soul (235)  |  Structure (365)  |  Survive (87)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Try (296)  |  Universe (900)

I do not believe in freedom of the 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 freedom of will preserves me from taking too seriously myself and my fellow men as acting and deciding individuals and from losing my temper.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accompany (22)  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Awareness (42)  |  Belief (615)  |  Decide (50)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Individual (420)  |  Lack (127)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lose (165)  |  Man (2252)  |  Myself (211)  |  Other (2233)  |  Painful (12)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Reconcile (19)  |  Schopenhauer (6)  |  Schopenhauers (2)  |  Seriously (20)  |  Situation (117)  |  Temper (12)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

I do not believe that a moral philosophy can ever be founded on a scientific basis. … The valuation of life and all its nobler expressions can only come out of the soul’s yearning toward its own destiny. Every attempt to reduce ethics to scientific formulas must fail. Of that I am perfectly convinced.
— Albert Einstein
In 'Science and God: A Dialogue', Forum and Century (June 1930), 83, 374. Einstein’s dialogue was with James Murphy and J.W.N. Sullivan. Excerpted in David E. Rowe and Robert J. Schulmann, Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb (2007), 230. The book introduces this quote as Einstein’s reply when Murphy asked, in the authors’ words, “how far he thought modern science might be able to go toward establishing practical ideals of life on the ruins of religious ideals.”
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Basis (180)  |  Belief (615)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Do (1905)  |  Ethic (39)  |  Ethics (53)  |  Expression (181)  |  Fail (191)  |  Failure (176)  |  Formula (102)  |  Life (1870)  |  Moral (203)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nobler (3)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Soul (235)  |  Valuation (4)  |  Yearning (13)

I do not think words alone will solve humanity’s present problems. The sound of bombs drowns out men’s voices. In times of peace I have great faith in the communication of ideas among thinking men, but today, with brute force dominating so many millions of lives, I fear that the appeal to man’s intellect is fast becoming virtually meaningless.
— Albert Einstein
In 'I Am an American' (22 Jun 1940), Einstein Archives 29-092. Excerpted in David E. Rowe and Robert J. Schulmann, Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb (2007), 470. It was during a radio broadcast for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, interviewed by a State Department Official. Einstein spoke following an examination on his application for American citizenship in Trenton, New Jersey. The attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s declaration of war on Japan was still over a year in the future.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Appeal (46)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Bomb (20)  |  Brute (30)  |  Brute Force (4)  |  Communication (101)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drown (14)  |  Faith (209)  |  Fear (212)  |  Force (497)  |  Great (1610)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Meaningless (17)  |  Million (124)  |  Peace (116)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Solve (145)  |  Sound (187)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Voice (54)  |  War (233)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves–this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts–possessions, outward success, luxury–have always seemed to me contemptible.
— Albert Einstein
In 'What I Believe,' Forum and Century (1930).
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Basis (180)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Call (781)  |  Cheerfully (2)  |  Contemptible (8)  |  Courage (82)  |  Critical (73)  |  Ease (40)  |  Effort (243)  |  Empty (82)  |  End (603)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Eternally (4)  |  Face (214)  |  Field (378)  |  Give (208)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Kindness (14)  |  Kinship (5)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Look (584)  |  Luxury (21)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Object (438)  |  Objective (96)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Outward (7)  |  Possession (68)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sense (785)  |  Success (327)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trite (5)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unattainable (6)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accentuate (2)  |  Asset (6)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Briefly (5)  |  Concern (239)  |  Conscious (46)  |  Constantly (27)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Crisis (25)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Deprive (14)  |  Deteriorate (3)  |  Deterioration (10)  |  Devote (45)  |  Drive (61)  |  Economic (84)  |  Egotistical (2)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Essence (85)  |  Existence (481)  |  Experience (494)  |  Feel (371)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Himself (461)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Individual (420)  |  Insecure (5)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lonely (24)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  Moreover (3)  |  Naive (13)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Organic (161)  |  Perilous (4)  |  Point (584)  |  Position (83)  |  Positive (98)  |  Prisoner (8)  |  Process (439)  |  Progressively (4)  |  Protective (5)  |  Reach (286)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Right (473)  |  Short (200)  |  Simple (426)  |  Social (261)  |  Society (350)  |  Suffer (43)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Threat (36)  |  Through (846)  |  Tie (42)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unsophisticated (2)  |  Weak (73)  |  Whatever (234)

I wish they don’t forget to keep those treasures pure which they have in excellence over the west: their artistic building of life, the simplicity a nd modesty in personal need, and the pureness and calmness of Japanese soul.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Artistic (24)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Calmness (2)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Forget (125)  |  Japanese (7)  |  Keep (104)  |  Life (1870)  |  Modesty (18)  |  Nd (2)  |  Need (320)  |  Personal (75)  |  Pure (299)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Soul (235)  |  Treasure (59)  |  West (21)  |  Wish (216)

If A is a success in life, I should say the formula is A = X + Y + Z, X being work and Y being play. … … [Z] is keeping your mouth shut.
— Albert Einstein
Reply to question about what Einstein considered “the best formula for success in life,” asked by S.J. Woolf in an interview at Einstein's home, published as 'Einstein’s Own Corner of Space’, New York Times (18 Aug 1929), Sunday Magazine, 1. Also stated in Carl Seelig, Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography (1956), 54, as “A (Success) = X (Work) + Y (Play) + Z (Keep your mouth shut).
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Biography (254)  |  Formula (102)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Say (989)  |  Shut (41)  |  Success (327)  |  Work (1402)

If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my dreams in music. I see my life in terms of music... I get most joy in life out of music.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Dream (222)  |  Joy (117)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Most (1728)  |  Music (133)  |  Musician (23)  |  Often (109)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Probably (50)  |  See (1094)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Think (1122)

In human freedom in the philosophical sense I am definitely a disbeliever. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying, that ‘a man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants,’ has been an inspiration to me since my youth up, and a continual consolation and unfailing well-spring of patience in the face of the hardships of life, my own and others. This feeling mercifully not only mitigates the sense of responsibility which so easily becomes paralysing, and it prevents us from taking ourselves and other people too seriously; it conduces to a view of life in which humour, above all, has its due place.
— Albert Einstein
In The World As I See It (1934), 238.
Science quotes on:  |  Accordance (10)  |  Act (278)  |  Become (821)  |  Compulsion (19)  |  Conduce (2)  |  Consolation (9)  |  Continual (44)  |  Definitely (5)  |  Do (1905)  |  Due (143)  |  Easily (36)  |  Everybody (72)  |  External (62)  |  Face (214)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Hardship (4)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humour (116)  |  Inner (72)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mitigate (5)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Patience (58)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosophical (24)  |  Place (192)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Say (989)  |  Schopenhauer (6)  |  Schopenhauers (2)  |  Sense (785)  |  Seriously (20)  |  Spring (140)  |  Unfailing (6)  |  View (496)  |  View Of Life (7)  |  Will (2350)  |  Youth (109)

It is easy to follow in the sacred writings of the Jewish people the development of the religion of fear into the moral religion, which is carried further in the New Testament. The religions of all civilized peoples, especially those of the Orient, are principally moral religions. An important advance in the life of a people is the transformation of the religion of fear into the moral religion.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Carry (130)  |  Civilized (20)  |  Development (441)  |  Easy (213)  |  Especially (31)  |  Far (158)  |  Fear (212)  |  Follow (389)  |  Important (229)  |  Jewish (15)  |  Life (1870)  |  Moral (203)  |  New (1273)  |  New Testament (3)  |  Orient (5)  |  People (1031)  |  Principally (2)  |  Religion (369)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Writing (192)  |  Writings (6)

It is therefore easy to see why the churches have always fought science and persecuted its devotees. On the other hand, I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research. Only those who realize the immense efforts and, above all, the devotion without which pioneer work in theoretical science cannot be achieved are able to grasp the strength of the emotion out of which alone such work, remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can issue. What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe and what a yearning to understand, were it but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world, Kepler and Newton must have had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics! Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the mentality of the men who, surrounded by a skeptical world, have shown the way to kindred spirits scattered wide through the world and through the centuries. Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men and given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite of countless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength. A contemporary has said, not unjustly, that in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Achieve (75)  |  Acquaintance (38)  |  Age (509)  |  Alone (324)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Celestial Mechanics (4)  |  Century (319)  |  Chiefly (47)  |  Church (64)  |  Completely (137)  |  Contemporary (33)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Countless (39)  |  Deep (241)  |  Derive (70)  |  Develop (278)  |  Devote (45)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Devotee (7)  |  Devotion (37)  |  Disentangle (4)  |  Easily (36)  |  Easy (213)  |  Effort (243)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Enable (122)  |  End (603)  |  Failure (176)  |  False (105)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fight (49)  |  Give (208)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Issue (46)  |  Kepler (4)  |  Kindred (12)  |  Labor (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Man (2252)  |  Materialistic (2)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Mentality (5)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motive (62)  |  Must (1525)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Nobl (4)  |  Notion (120)  |  On The Other Hand (40)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ours (4)  |  People (1031)  |  Persecute (6)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Practical (225)  |  Principle (530)  |  Profoundly (13)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rationality (25)  |  Reality (274)  |  Realization (44)  |  Realize (157)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Religious (134)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remote (86)  |  Research (753)  |  Result (700)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Say (989)  |  Scatter (7)  |  Scientific (955)  |  See (1094)  |  Serious (98)  |  Show (353)  |  Similar (36)  |  Skeptical (21)  |  Solitary (16)  |  Spend (97)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spite (55)  |  Strength (139)  |  Strong (182)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Surround (33)  |  Theoretical Science (4)  |  Through (846)  |  True (239)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unjustly (2)  |  Vivid (25)  |  Way (1214)  |  Why (491)  |  Wide (97)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worker (34)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)  |  Yearn (13)  |  Yearning (13)

It was my good fortune to be linked with Mme. Curie through twenty years of sublime and unclouded friendship. I came to admire her human grandeur to an ever growing degree. Her strength, her purity of will, her austerity toward herself, her objectivity, her incorruptible judgement—all these were of a kind seldom found joined in a single individual… The greatest scientific deed of her life—proving the existence of radioactive elements and isolating them—owes its accomplishment not merely to bold intuition but to a devotion and tenacity in execution under the most extreme hardships imaginable, such as the history of experimental science has not often witnessed.
— Albert Einstein
Out of My Later Years (1950), 227-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Austerity (3)  |  Bold (22)  |  Marie Curie (37)  |  Deed (34)  |  Degree (277)  |  Devotion (37)  |  Element (322)  |  Execution (25)  |  Existence (481)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Fortune (50)  |  Friendship (18)  |  Good (906)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Growing (99)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Individual (420)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Kind (564)  |  Life (1870)  |  Merely (315)  |  Most (1728)  |  Objectivity (17)  |  Owe (71)  |  Radioactive (24)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Single (365)  |  Strength (139)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Tenacity (10)  |  Through (846)  |  Will (2350)  |  Witness (57)  |  Year (963)

Knowledge is necessary too. A child with great intuition could not grow up to become something worthwhile in life without some knowledge. However there comes a point in everyone’s life where only intuition can make the leap ahead, without knowing precisely how.
— Albert Einstein
As recollected from a visit some months earlier, and quoted in William Miller, 'Old Man’s Advice to Youth: “Never Lose a Holy Curiosity”', Life (2 May 1955), 64.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Child (333)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grow (247)  |  Grow Up (9)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Leap (57)  |  Life (1870)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Point (584)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Something (718)  |  Worthwhile (18)

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Balance (82)  |  Bicycle (10)  |  Keep (104)  |  Life (1870)  |  Move (223)  |  Must (1525)  |  Ride (23)

Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligible picture of the world; he then tries to some extent to substitute this cosmos of his for the world of experience, and thus to overcome it. This is what the painter, the poet, the speculative philosopher, and the natural scientist do, each in his own fashion. Each makes this cosmos and its construction the pivot of his emotional life, in order to find in this way the peace and security which he cannot find in the narrow whirlpool of personal experience.
— Albert Einstein
Address at The Physical Society, Berlin (1918) for Max Planck’s 60th birthday, 'Principles of Research', collected in Essays in Science (1934, 2004) 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Best (467)  |  Construction (114)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Do (1905)  |  Emotional (17)  |  Experience (494)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Find (1014)  |  Himself (461)  |  Intelligible (35)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Scientist (6)  |  Order (638)  |  Overcome (40)  |  Painter (30)  |  Peace (116)  |  Personal (75)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Picture (148)  |  Pivot (2)  |  Poet (97)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Security (51)  |  Speculative (12)  |  Substitute (47)  |  Suit (12)  |  Try (296)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whirlpool (2)  |  World (1850)

May the conscience and the common sense of the peoples be awakened, so that we may reach a new stage in the life of nations, where people will look back on war as an incomprehensible aberration of their forefathers!
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Aberration (10)  |  Awaken (17)  |  Back (395)  |  Common (447)  |  Common Sense (136)  |  Conscience (52)  |  Forefather (4)  |  Incomprehensible (31)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Look Back (5)  |  Nation (208)  |  New (1273)  |  People (1031)  |  Reach (286)  |  Sense (785)  |  Stage (152)  |  War (233)  |  Will (2350)

My internal and external life depend so much on the work of others that I must make an extreme effort to give as much as I receive.
— Albert Einstein
Quoted, without citation, in Floyd Merrell, Unthinking Thinking: Jorge Luis Borges, Mathematics, and the New Physics, 241. Webmaster has not found any other source for this quote, and cautions doubt about its authenticity. If you know a primary source, please contact Webmaster.
Science quotes on:  |  Depend (238)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Effort (243)  |  External (62)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Giving (11)  |  Internal (69)  |  Life (1870)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Receive (117)  |  Work (1402)

No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fill (67)  |  Gospel (8)  |  Jesus (9)  |  Life (1870)  |  Myth (58)  |  Personality (66)  |  Presence (63)  |  Read (308)  |  Word (650)

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Benefit (123)  |  Chance (244)  |  Diet (56)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Health (210)  |  Human (1512)  |  Increase (225)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Survival (105)  |  Vegetarian (13)  |  Will (2350)

Of what significance is one’s one existence, one is basically unaware. What does a fish know about the water in which he swims all his life? The bitter and the sweet come from outside. The hard from within, from one’s own efforts. For the most part I do what my own nature drives me to do. It is embarrassing to earn such respect and love for it.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Basically (4)  |  Bitter (30)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drive (61)  |  Earn (9)  |  Effort (243)  |  Embarrassing (3)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fish (130)  |  Hard (246)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Love (328)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Outside (141)  |  Part (235)  |  Respect (212)  |  Significance (114)  |  Sweet (40)  |  Swim (32)  |  Unaware (6)  |  Water (503)

One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.
— Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein and Walter Shropshire (ed.), The Joys of Research (1981), 40.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Crudity (4)  |  Desire (212)  |  Dreariness (3)  |  Escape (85)  |  Everyday (32)  |  Everyday Life (15)  |  Fetters (7)  |  Hopeless (17)  |  Lead (391)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Motive (62)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Objective (96)  |  Pain (144)  |  Perception (97)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Thought (995)  |  World (1850)

One should guard against inculcating a young man with the idea that success is the aim of life, for a successful man normally receives from his peers an incomparably greater portion than the services he has been able to render them deserve. The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving. The most important motive for study at school, at the university, and in life is the pleasure of working and thereby obtaining results which will serve the community. The most important task for our educators is to awaken and encourage these psychological forces in a young man {or woman}. Such a basis alone can lead to the joy of possessing one of the most precious assets in the world - knowledge or artistic skill.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Aim (175)  |  Alone (324)  |  Artistic (24)  |  Asset (6)  |  Awaken (17)  |  Basis (180)  |  Capable (174)  |  Community (111)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Educator (7)  |  Encourage (43)  |  Force (497)  |  Give (208)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Guard (19)  |  Idea (881)  |  Important (229)  |  Incomparable (14)  |  Inculcate (7)  |  Joy (117)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motive (62)  |  Normally (2)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Peer (13)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Portion (86)  |  Possess (157)  |  Precious (43)  |  Psychological (42)  |  Receive (117)  |  Render (96)  |  Reside (25)  |  Result (700)  |  School (227)  |  Serve (64)  |  Service (110)  |  Skill (116)  |  Study (701)  |  Success (327)  |  Successful (134)  |  Task (152)  |  Thereby (5)  |  University (130)  |  Value (393)  |  Will (2350)  |  Woman (160)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Young (253)

One should guard against preaching to the young man success in the customary sense as the aim in life. ... The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community.
— Albert Einstein
'On Education', address at the State University of New York, Albany (15 Oct 1936) in celebration of the Tercentenary of Higher Education in America, translation prepared by Lina Arronet. In Albert Einstein, The Einstein Reader (2006), 30.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Aim (175)  |  Community (111)  |  Customary (18)  |  Guard (19)  |  Important (229)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motive (62)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Preach (11)  |  Result (700)  |  School (227)  |  Sense (785)  |  Success (327)  |  Value (393)  |  Work (1402)  |  Young (253)  |  Youth (109)

One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet is the most precious thing we have.
— Albert Einstein
Epigraph in Banesh Hoffmann and Helen Dukas, Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1972, 1973), vii.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Most (1728)  |  Precious (43)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Reality (274)  |  Thing (1914)

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Other (2233)  |  Worthwhile (18)

Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for society–nay, even set up new moral standards to which the life of the community conforms. Without creative, independently thinking and judging personalities the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without the nourishing soil of the community.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Community (111)  |  Conform (15)  |  Create (245)  |  Creative (144)  |  Development (441)  |  Independently (24)  |  Individual (420)  |  Judge (114)  |  Life (1870)  |  Moral (203)  |  New (1273)  |  Nourish (18)  |  Personality (66)  |  Set (400)  |  Society (350)  |  Soil (98)  |  Standard (64)  |  Thereby (5)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Unthinkable (8)  |  Upward (44)  |  Value (393)

Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us, our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life.
— Albert Einstein
In a letter to Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh-Omnes’ widow, February 25,1926.
Science quotes on:  |  Children (201)  |  Death (406)  |  End (603)  |  Generation (256)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Tree (269)  |  Tree Of Life (10)  |  Younger (21)

Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own. I am often worried at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Aware (36)  |  Base (120)  |  Being (1276)  |  Connect (126)  |  Daily (91)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fate (76)  |  Feel (371)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Indebtedness (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Often (109)  |  Other (2233)  |  Sake (61)  |  Seem (150)  |  Short (200)  |  Situation (117)  |  Stay (26)  |  Strange (160)  |  Thought (995)  |  Wherefore (2)  |  Why (491)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worry (34)

Our time is distinguished by wonderful achievements in the fields of scientific understanding and the technical application of those insights. Who would not be cheered by this? But let us not forget that human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth. What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for me higher than all the achievements of the inquiring constructive mind.
— Albert Einstein
(Sep 1937). In Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman (eds.), Albert Einstein, the Human Side (1979), 70. The editors state that except being unrelated to “a ‘Preaching Mission’, nothing of any consequence is known of the circumstances that prompted its composition.”
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Alone (324)  |  Application (257)  |  Cheer (7)  |  Constructive (15)  |  Dignified (13)  |  Discoverer (43)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Field (378)  |  Forget (125)  |  Happy (108)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Insight (107)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Let (64)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moral (203)  |  Objective (96)  |  Owe (71)  |  Place (192)  |  Rank (69)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Skill (116)  |  Standard (64)  |  Technical (53)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Value (393)  |  Wonderful (155)

Our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing power to make great decisions for good or evil. The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe. We scientists who released this immense power have an overwhelming responsibility in this world life-and-death struggle to harness the atom for the benefit of mankind and not for humanity’s destruction. … We need two hundred thousand dollars at once for a nation-wide campaign to let people know that a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels. This appeal is sent to you only after long consideration of the immense crisis we face. … We ask your help at this fateful moment as a sign that we scientists do not stand alone.
— Albert Einstein
In 'Atomic Education Urged by Einstein', New York Times (25 May 1946), 13. Extract from a telegram (24 May 1946) to “several hundred prominent Americans”, signed by Albert Einstein as Chairman, with other members, of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists. It was also signed by the Federation of American Scientists.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Appeal (46)  |  Ask (420)  |  Atom (381)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Campaign (6)  |  Catastrophe (35)  |  Change (639)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Crisis (25)  |  Death (406)  |  Decision (98)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dollar (22)  |  Drift (14)  |  Essential (210)  |  Everything (489)  |  Evil (122)  |  Face (214)  |  Fateful (2)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Harness (25)  |  Help (116)  |  Higher Level (3)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Immense (89)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Moment (260)  |  Move (223)  |  Nation (208)  |  Need (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  People (1031)  |  Power (771)  |  Release (31)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Save (126)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Send (23)  |  Sign (63)  |  Stand (284)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Survive (87)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Two (936)  |  Type (171)  |  Unleash (2)  |  Wide (97)  |  World (1850)

Overemphasis on the competitive system and premature specialization on the ground of immediate usefulness kill the spirit on which all cultural life depends.
— Albert Einstein
From interview with Benjamin Fine, 'Einstein Stresses Critical Thinking', New York Times (5 Oct 1952), 37.
Science quotes on:  |  Competitive (8)  |  Cultural (26)  |  Depend (238)  |  Education (423)  |  Ground (222)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Kill (100)  |  Life (1870)  |  Premature (22)  |  Specialization (24)  |  Specialized (9)  |  Spirit (278)  |  System (545)  |  Usefulness (92)

Science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Contribute (30)  |  Impulse (52)  |  Life (1870)  |  Purify (9)  |  Religious (134)  |  Spiritualization (2)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

Still there are moments when one feels free from one’s own identification with human limitations and inadequacies. At such moments, one imagines that one stands on some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable: life and death flow into one, and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only being.
— Albert Einstein
From Letter (9 Jan 1939) to Queen Mother Elisabeth of Belgium asking for help to get his cousin out of wartime Germany. Einstein was already at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in Ameerica. As quoted in The New Yorker (10 Mar 1973), 49, 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Amazement (19)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Death (406)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Existence (481)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Planet (402)

The desire for guidance, love, and support prompts men to form the social or moral conception of God. This is the God of Providence, who protects, disposes, rewards, and punishes; the God who, according to the limits of the believer’s outlook, loves and cherishes the life of the tribe or of the human race, or even or life itself; the comforter in sorrow and unsatisfied longing; he who preserves the souls of the dead. This is the social or moral conception of God.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accord (36)  |  According (236)  |  Believer (26)  |  Cherish (25)  |  Conception (160)  |  Dead (65)  |  Desire (212)  |  Dispose (10)  |  Form (976)  |  God (776)  |  Guidance (30)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Long (778)  |  Longing (19)  |  Love (328)  |  Moral (203)  |  Outlook (32)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Prompt (14)  |  Protect (65)  |  Providence (19)  |  Punish (8)  |  Race (278)  |  Reward (72)  |  Social (261)  |  Sorrow (21)  |  Soul (235)  |  Support (151)  |  Tribe (26)

The efforts of most human-beings are consumed in the struggle for their daily bread, but most of those who are, either through fortune or some special gift, relieved of this struggle are largely absorbed in further improving their worldly lot. Beneath the effort directed toward the accumulation of worldly goods lies all too frequently the illusion that this is the most substantial and desirable end to be achieved; but there is, fortunately, a minority composed of those who recognize early in their lives that the most beautiful and satisfying experiences open to humankind are not derived from the outside, but are bound up with the development of the individual's own feeling, thinking and acting. The genuine artists, investigators and thinkers have always been persons of this kind. However inconspicuously the life of these individuals runs its course, none the less the fruits of their endeavors are the most valuable contributions which one generation can make to its successors.
— Albert Einstein
In letter (1 May 1935), Letters to the Editor, 'The Late Emmy Noether: Professor Einstein Writes in Appreciation of a Fellow-Mathematician', New York Times (4 May 1935), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Absorb (54)  |  Accumulation (51)  |  Acting (6)  |  Artist (97)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Bound (120)  |  Bread (42)  |  Contribution (93)  |  Course (413)  |  Daily (91)  |  Derivation (15)  |  Desirable (33)  |  Development (441)  |  Direct (228)  |  Early (196)  |  Effort (243)  |  End (603)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Experience (494)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fortunately (9)  |  Fortune (50)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Generation (256)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Gift (105)  |  Good (906)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humankind (15)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Inconspicuous (4)  |  Individual (420)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Kind (564)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Lot (151)  |  Minority (24)  |  Most (1728)  |  Emmy Noether (7)  |  Nonetheless (2)  |  Open (277)  |  Outside (141)  |  Person (366)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Run (158)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Special (188)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Substantial (24)  |  Successor (16)  |  Thinker (41)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Through (846)  |  Value (393)

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.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Blind (98)  |  Blind Faith (4)  |  Certain (557)  |  Death (406)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Faith (209)  |  Far (158)  |  Fear (212)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mankind (356)  |  More (2558)  |  Path (159)  |  Rational (95)  |  Religiosity (2)  |  Seem (150)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Strive (53)  |  Through (846)

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.
— Albert Einstein
Recollection of a statement to William Miller, an editor, as quoted in, 'Old Man’s Advice to Youth: “Never Lose a Holy Curiosity”', Life (2 May 1955), 64.
Science quotes on:  |  Awe (43)  |  Contemplate (29)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Existing (10)  |  Help (116)  |  Life (1870)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Structure (365)  |  Thing (1914)

The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from the religion of fear to moral religion, a development continued in the New Testament. The religions of all civilized peoples, especially the peoples of the Orient, are primarily moral religions. The development from a religion of fear to moral religion is a great step in peoples’ lives. And yet, that primitive religions are based entirely on fear and the religions of civilized peoples purely on morality is a prejudice against which we must be on our guard. The truth is that all religions are a varying blend of both types, with this differentiation: that on the higher levels of social life the religion of morality predominates.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Admirably (3)  |  Against (332)  |  Base (120)  |  Blend (9)  |  Both (496)  |  Civilized (20)  |  Continue (179)  |  Development (441)  |  Differentiation (28)  |  Entirely (36)  |  Especially (31)  |  Fear (212)  |  Great (1610)  |  Guard (19)  |  High (370)  |  Illustrate (14)  |  Jewish (15)  |  Level (69)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Moral (203)  |  Morality (55)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  New Testament (3)  |  Orient (5)  |  People (1031)  |  Predominate (7)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Primarily (12)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Purely (111)  |  Religion (369)  |  Scripture (14)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Life (8)  |  Step (234)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Type (171)  |  Vary (27)

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.
— Albert Einstein
In a letter to a minister in Brooklyn, N.Y. (20 Nov 1950), first paragraph, as quoted in Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffmann (eds.), Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1979, 1981), 95.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Balance (82)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Existence (481)  |  Give (208)  |  Human (1512)  |  Important (229)  |  Inner (72)  |  Life (1870)  |  Morality (55)  |  Most (1728)  |  Strive (53)

The position in which we are now is a very strange one which in general political life never happened. Namely, the thing that I refer to is this: To have security against atomic bombs and against the other biological weapons, we have to prevent war, for if we cannot prevent war every nation will use every means that is at their disposal; and in spite of all promises they make, they will do it.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Biological (137)  |  Disposal (5)  |  Do (1905)  |  General (521)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Namely (11)  |  Nation (208)  |  Never (1089)  |  Other (2233)  |  Political (124)  |  Position (83)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Promise (72)  |  Refer (14)  |  Security (51)  |  Spite (55)  |  Strange (160)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Use (771)  |  War (233)  |  Weapon (98)  |  Weapons (57)  |  Will (2350)

The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the State but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Create (245)  |  Creative (144)  |  Dull (58)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Herd (17)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Life (32)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  Noble (93)  |  Pageant (3)  |  Personality (66)  |  Really (77)  |  Remain (355)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sentient (8)  |  State (505)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Value (393)

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.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Everything (489)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Other (2233)  |  Two (936)  |  Way (1214)

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives."
— Albert Einstein
In William Miller, 'Old Man's Advice to Youth: Never Lose a Holy Curiosity', Life (2 May 1955), 64.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Consider (428)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Receive (117)  |  Success (327)  |  Successful (134)  |  Try (296)  |  Value (393)  |  Will (2350)

What is the meaning of human life, or for that matter, of the life of any creature? To know an answer to this question means to be religious. Does it make any sense, then, to pose this question? I answer: The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unhappy but hardly fit for life.
— Albert Einstein
In Ideas and Opinions (1954), 11. A different translation is given in The World As I See It (1935), 1. From the original German in Mein Weltbild (1934).
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Creature (242)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Fit (139)  |  Hardly (19)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Life (32)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Meaningless (17)  |  Means (587)  |  Mere (86)  |  Merely (315)  |  Pose (9)  |  Question (649)  |  Regard (312)  |  Religious (134)  |  Sense (785)  |  Unhappy (16)

What is the meaning of human life, or of organic life altogether? To answer this question at all implies a religion. Is there any sense then, you ask, in putting it? I answer, the man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.
— Albert Einstein
In The World As I See It (1935), 1. A different translation is given in Ideas and Opinions (1954), 11. From the original German in Mein Weltbild (1934).
Science quotes on:  |  Altogether (9)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Creature (242)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Life (32)  |  Imply (20)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Meaningless (17)  |  Merely (315)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organic Life (2)  |  Question (649)  |  Regard (312)  |  Religion (369)  |  Sense (785)  |  Unfortunate (19)

While religion prescribes brotherly love in the relations among the individuals and groups, the actual spectacle more resembles a battlefield than an orchestra. Everywhere, in economic as well as in political life, the guiding principle is one of ruthless striving for success at the expense of one’s fellow men. This competitive spirit prevails even in school and, destroying all feelings of human fraternity and cooperation, conceives of achievement not as derived from the love for productive and thoughtful work, but as springing from personal ambition and fear of rejection.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Actual (118)  |  Ambition (46)  |  Battlefield (9)  |  Brotherly (2)  |  Competitive (8)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Cooperation (38)  |  Derive (70)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Economic (84)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Expense (21)  |  Fear (212)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Feelings (52)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Fraternity (4)  |  Group (83)  |  Guide (107)  |  Human (1512)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  Love (328)  |  More (2558)  |  Orchestra (3)  |  Personal (75)  |  Political (124)  |  Prescribe (11)  |  Prevail (47)  |  Principle (530)  |  Productive (37)  |  Rejection (36)  |  Relation (166)  |  Religion (369)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Ruthless (12)  |  School (227)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spring (140)  |  Strive (53)  |  Success (327)  |  Thoughtful (16)  |  Work (1402)

Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness? … The simple answer runs: “Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it.”
— Albert Einstein
Address to students of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California (16 Feb 1931). In New York Times (17 Feb 1931), p. 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Science (36)  |  Easier (53)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Run (158)  |  Save (126)  |  Sensible (28)  |  Simple (426)  |  Use (771)  |  Why (491)  |  Work (1402)

Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
— Albert Einstein
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Acquire (46)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Lifelong (10)  |  Product (166)  |  School (227)  |  Wisdom (235)


See also:
  • 14 Mar - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Einstein's birth.
  • Albert Einstein - Context of “God … integrates empirically” quote - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - Context of “Laws of mathematics refer to reality” quote
  • Albert Einstein - Context of “Laws of mathematics refer to reality” quote - with Large image (800 x 600 px).
  • Albert Einstein - Context of “God … integrates empirically” quote - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote Mathematics…a product of human thought - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote Mathematics…a product of human thought - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Large color picture of Albert Einstein (850 x 1000 px).
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “Politics is more difficult than physics” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “Politics is more difficult than physics” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - My Theory - The Times (1919).
  • Geometry and Experience - Address by Albert Einstein to the Prussian Academy of Sciences (27 Jan 1921).
  • Even Einstein's Little Universe Is Big Enough - New York Times article (2 Feb 1921).
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote The Lord God is subtle - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote The Lord God is subtle - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote Imagination is more important than knowledge - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote Imagination is more important than knowledge - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote A theory can be proved by experiment - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote A theory can be proved by experiment - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote Falling in love is not at all the most stupid thing - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote Falling in love is not at all the most stupid thing - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote That is relativity - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote That is relativity - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “One thing I have learned in a long life” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote One thing I have learned in a long life - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “Why is the electron negative?” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “Why is the electron negative?” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “The formulation of a problem is often far more essential than its solution” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “The formulation of a problem is often far more essential than its solution” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “Our exalted technological progress” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “Our exalted technological progress” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “There exists a passion for comprehension” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “There exists a passion for comprehension” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “An equation is for eternity” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
  • Albert Einstein - context of quote “An equation is for eternity” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
  • Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein, by Abraham Pais. - book suggestion.
  • Booklist for Albert Einstein.

Carl Sagan Thumbnail In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages:
Visit our Science and Scientist Quotations index for more Science Quotes from archaeologists, biologists, chemists, geologists, inventors and inventions, mathematicians, physicists, pioneers in medicine, science events and technology.

Names index: | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Categories index: | 1 | 2 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Thank you for sharing.
- 100 -
Sophie Germain
Gertrude Elion
Ernest Rutherford
James Chadwick
Marcel Proust
William Harvey
Johann Goethe
John Keynes
Carl Gauss
Paul Feyerabend
- 90 -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lise Meitner
Charles Babbage
Ibn Khaldun
Euclid
Ralph Emerson
Robert Bunsen
Frederick Banting
Andre Ampere
Winston Churchill
- 80 -
John Locke
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bible
Thomas Huxley
Alessandro Volta
Erwin Schrodinger
Wilhelm Roentgen
Louis Pasteur
Bertrand Russell
Jean Lamarck
- 70 -
Samuel Morse
John Wheeler
Nicolaus Copernicus
Robert Fulton
Pierre Laplace
Humphry Davy
Thomas Edison
Lord Kelvin
Theodore Roosevelt
Carolus Linnaeus
- 60 -
Francis Galton
Linus Pauling
Immanuel Kant
Martin Fischer
Robert Boyle
Karl Popper
Paul Dirac
Avicenna
James Watson
William Shakespeare
- 50 -
Stephen Hawking
Niels Bohr
Nikola Tesla
Rachel Carson
Max Planck
Henry Adams
Richard Dawkins
Werner Heisenberg
Alfred Wegener
John Dalton
- 40 -
Pierre Fermat
Edward Wilson
Johannes Kepler
Gustave Eiffel
Giordano Bruno
JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
Leonardo DaVinci
Archimedes
David Hume
- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
Rudolf Virchow
Richard Feynman
James Hutton
Alexander Fleming
Emile Durkheim
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Hooke
Charles Kettering
- 20 -
Carl Sagan
James Maxwell
Marie Curie
Rene Descartes
Francis Crick
Hippocrates
Michael Faraday
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
- 10 -
Aristotle
John Watson
Rosalind Franklin
Michio Kaku
Isaac Asimov
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Isaac Newton


by Ian Ellis
who invites your feedback
Thank you for sharing.
Today in Science History
Sign up for Newsletter
with quiz, quotes and more.