Albert Einstein

There once was a family named Stein,
With three children: Ep, Gert, and Ein.
Ep's statues are junk, Gert's poems are bunk,
And nobody understands Ein.
--Anonymous

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

I regard it as the chief duty of the state to protect the individual and give him the opportunity to develop into a creative personality.85

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

Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater.

Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world.

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.

Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love.

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. 

Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.

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

My scientific work is motivated by an irresistible longing to understand the secrets of nature and by no other feelings.

God does not play dice with the universe.

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

I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.

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.

Human beings, vegetables or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.

The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to insure the unhindered development of the individual.

The most incomprehensible thing about our universe is that it can be comprehended.

I do not try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it. 69

Those who are finer and nobler are always alone--and necessarily so--and because of this they can enjoy the purity of their own atmosphere.

Why is it I get my best ideas in the morning while I'm shaving?

If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.

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

Watch the stars, and from them learn. 
To the Master's honor all must turn,
each in its track, without a sound,
forever tracing Newton's ground.

The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.

Force attracts men of low morality. 12

The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naive. 68

If I had only known. I would have become a locksmith.

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

The doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense by science...

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

To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate has made me an authority myself.

Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.

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

Where the world ceases to be the scene of our personal hopes and wishes, where we face it as free beings admiring, asking and observing, there we enter the realm of Art and Science.

Now I know why there are so many people who enjoy chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees the results.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Three rules of work:
1. Out of clutter, find simplicity.
2. From discord, find harmony.
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

Curiosity has its own reason for existence.

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

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

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

Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them. 

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.

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.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

How can it be that mathematics, being a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality?

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.

If relativity is proved right, the Germans will call me a German, the Swiss will call me a Swiss citizen, and the French will call me a great scientist. If relativity is proved wrong, the French will call me a Swiss, the Swiss will call me a German, and the Germans will call me a Jew.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

Study, and, in general, the pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all of our lives.

When the solution is simple, God is answering.

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