Albert Einstein

Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.

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

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.

War cannot be humanized. It can only be abolished.

When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity.

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

Politics is more difficult than physics.

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

Information is not knowledge.

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

Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.

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

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. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.

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

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

Learn from yesterday, live for today.

Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity. From discord find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

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

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

Once you stop learning you start dying.

Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.

It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion.

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

He who is untrue to his own cause cannot command the respect of others.

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

I am thankful to all who said no to me. It is because of them that I’m doing it myself.

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.

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

Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

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

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

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

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.

People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

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

If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.

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

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

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.

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.

Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age.

As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.

To the Master's honor all must turn, each in its track, without a sound, forever tracing Newton's ground.

Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.

Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events.

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

Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.

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

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

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.

God always takes the simplest way.

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

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

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

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

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

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.

The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

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

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

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

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

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

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

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

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

Love is a better teacher than duty.

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

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

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.

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.

We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.

The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.

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

The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.

Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.

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.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

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

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

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.

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

You can't blame gravity for falling in love.

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

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

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

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

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.

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

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

The only source of knowledge is experience.

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

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

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

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

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

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.

A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.

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

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.

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

Any fool can know. The point is to understand.

An epiphany is when the universe conspires to show you a truth you've always known but never fully understood.

Weak people revenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent people ignore.

Science is the most precious thing we have.

Play is the highest form of research.

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

Avoid negative people. They have a problem with every solution.

It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

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

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

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

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

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

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

Try not to be a man of success, but a man of value.