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Quotations by Albert Einstein
Albert EinsteinThe value of a college education - The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.

To punish me for my contempt - To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

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

If we knew what we were doing - If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

Imagination is more important than knowledge - Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.

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

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

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

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

If a cluttered desk is a sign . . . - If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

Great spirits have always. . . - Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

If you want your children to be intelligent - 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.

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

Everybody is a genius - Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

An hour seems like a second - 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.

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

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

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

If I were not a physicist - 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 - The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.

The world is a dangerous place to live - 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.

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

Attachment to any state or national entity - I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever.

If my theory of relativity is successful - If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.

The utter inadequacy of intelligence - As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists.

The atomic bomb altered the nature of the world - Often in evolutionary processes a species must adapt to new conditions in order to survive. Today the atomic bomb has altered profoundly the nature of the world as we know it, and the human race consequently finds itself in a new habitat to which it must adapt its thinking.

The way to learn the most - That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don't notice that the time passes. I am sometimes so wrapped up in my work that I forget about the noon meal.

Refresh and revivify older people - Something there is that can refresh and revivify older people: joy in the activities of the younger generation -- a joy, to be sure, that is clouded by dark forebodings in these unsettled times. And yet, as always, the springtime sun brings forth new life, and we may rejoice because of this new life and contribute to its unfolding; and Mozart remains as beautiful and tender as he always was and always will be. There is, after all, something eternal that lies beyond the hand of fate and of all human delusions. And such eternals lie closer to an older person than to a younger one oscillating between fear and hope. For us, there remains the privilege of experiencing beauty and truth in their purest forms.

A goal of comfort - The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.

Beauty of the mysterious - The most beautiful thing we can experience is the Mysterious -- the knowledge of the existence of something unfathomable to us, the manifestation of the most profound reason coupled with the most brilliant beauty. I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, or who has a will of the kind we experience in ourselves. I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with the awareness of -- and glimpse into -- the marvelous construction of the existing world together with the steadfast determination to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.

Teaching as a valuable gift - Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.

Academic freedom and duty - By academic freedom I understand the right to search for truth and to publish and teach what one holds to be true. This right implies also a duty: one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true.

Imagination circles the world - 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.

Do not stop questioning - 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 marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.

God does not play dice - Quantum mechanics is very worthy of regard. But an inner voice tells me that this is not yet the right track. The theory yields much, but it hardly brings us closer to the Old One's secrets. I, in any case, am convinced that He does not play dice.

Explaining everything with science - 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.