Quotes from Albert Einstein

It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry.

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.

Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

I want to oppose the idea that the school has to teach directly that special knowledge and those accomplishments which one has to use later directly in life. The demands of life are much too manifold to let such a specialized training in school appear possible [...] The development of general ability for independent thinking and judgement should always be placed foremost.

Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it isn't true.

A ship is always safe at the shore, but that is not what it is built for.

Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.

Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate.

How was I able to live alone before, my little everything? Without you I lack self-confidence, passion for work, and enjoyment of life--in short, without you, my life is no life. [Written to his wife, Mileva]

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 might be killed, but enough men capable of thinking, and enough books, would be left to start again, and civilization could be restored.

The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion.

A theory is something nobody believes, except the person who made it. An experiment is something everybody believes, except the person who made it.

Genius is not that you are smarter than everyone else. It is that you are ready to receive the inspiration.

There are two important things for full success in life: 1. Don´t tell everything you know.

Growth comes through analogy; through seeing how things connect, rather than only seeing how they might be different.

It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.

Philosophers play with the word, like a child with a doll. It does not mean that everything in life is relative.

If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.

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.

Don't do anything that goes against your conscience, even if your country says so.

Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.

A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.

This is a question too difficult for a mathematician. It should be asked of a philosopher(when asked about completing his income tax form)

I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music