Albert Einstein quotes

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science.

Truth is what stands the test of experience.

Laws alone cannot secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be a spirit of tolerance in the entire population.

The State is made for man, not man for the State.

Science is the attempt to make the chaotic diversity of our sense-experience correspond to a logically uniform system of thought.

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

It is characteristic of the military mentality that non-human factors … are held essential, while the human being, his desires and thoughts — in short, the psychological factors — are considered as unimportant and secondary.

Man like every other animal is by nature indolent.  If nothing spurs him on, then he will hardly think, and will behave from habit like an automaton.

In a healthy nation there is a kind of dramatic balance between the will of the people and the government, which prevents its degeneration into tyranny.

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

The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of hypotheses of axioms.

I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.

The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow-creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.

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.

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.

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

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.

You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

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

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

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

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.

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

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

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

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

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

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

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

There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle The other is as though everything is a miracle.