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Albert Einstein

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A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the laborsof other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measureas I have received and am still receiving...

Albert Einstein (14 March1879 18 April1955) was a German-Americanphysicist. He is best-known for his Special and General Theories of Relativity, but contributed in other areas ofphysics. He became famous for his explanation of thephotoelectric effect (for which he receivedthe Nobel Prize). As a Jewish scientist he had to flee from Nazi Germany, but it should be notedthat he did not believe in traditional notions of apersonalgod, but rather perceived God to be a"superpersonal" entity, in ways that he declared to be inspired by Baruch Spinoza's andArthurSchopenhauer's ideas. He also asserted that the Jewish scriptures,Jesus, Gautama Buddha andother religious figures were important guides for the ethical advancement of humanity.

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

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1 Sourcedo 1.1 Principles of Research (1918)

o 1.2 Viereck interview (1929)

o 1.3 Wisehart interview (1930?)

o 1.4 Religion and Science (1930)

o 1.5 Mein Weltbild (1931)

o 1.6 My Credo (1932)

o 1.7 Obituary for Emmy Noether (1935)

o 1.8 Science and Religion (1941)

o 1.9 Only Then Shall We Find Courage (1946)

o 1.10 Religion and Science: Irreconcilable? (1948)

o 1.11 The World As I See It (1949)

o 1.12 "Why Socialism?" (1949)

o 1.13 On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation (1950)

o 1.14 Out of My Later Years (1950)

o 1.15 Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1954)

o 1.16 Sidelights on Relativity (1983)o 1.17 Einstein's God (1997)

2 Disputed

3 Misattributed

4 Quotes about Einstein

5 External links

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Mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing a somewhatunfamiliar conception for the average mind.

Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authority over us that weforget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens.

A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.o "My Future Plans" an essay written at age 17 for school exam (18 September

1896) The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein Vol. 1 (1987) Doc. 22

E = mc

o The equivalence of matter and energy was originally expressed by the equation m= L/c, which easily translates into the far more well known E = mc inDoes theInertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?published in theAnnalen derPhysik(27 September 1905) : "If a body gives off the energy L in the form ofradiation, its mass diminishes by L/c."

o In a later statement explaining the ideas expressed by this equation, Einsteinsummarized: "It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass andenergy are both but different manifestations of the same thing a somewhat

unfamiliar conception for the average mind. Furthermore, the equation E =

mc, in which energy is put equal to mass, multiplied by the square of the

velocity of light, showed that very small amounts of mass may be convertedinto a very large amount of energy and vice versa. The mass and energy werein fact equivalent, according to the formula mentioned before. This wasdemonstrated by Cockcroft and Walton in 1932, experimentally."

Atomic Physics (1948) by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, Ltd. (mp3audio file of Einstein's voice)
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We shall therefore assume the complete physical equivalence of a gravitational field

and a corresponding acceleration of the reference system.

o Statement of the equivalence principle in Yearbook of Radioactivity andElectronics (1907)

It is by no means an idle game if we become practiced in analyzing long-held commonplaceconcepts and showing the circumstances on which their justification and usefulness depend...

How does it happen that a properly endowed natural scientist comes to concern

himself with epistemology? Is there not some more valuable work to be done in hisspecialty? That's what I hear many of my colleagues ask, and I sense it from many more.But I cannot share this sentiment. When I think about the ablest students whom I haveencountered in my teaching that is, those who distinguish themselves by theirindependence of judgment and not just their quick-wittedness I can affirm that theyhad a vigorous interest in epistemology. They happily began discussions about the goalsand methods of science, and they showed unequivocally, through tenacious defense oftheir views, that the subject seemed important to them .

Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authorityover us that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens. Thus they might come to be stamped as "necessities of thought," "a priori givens," etc.The path of scientific progress is often made impassable for a long time by such errors.Therefore it is by no means an idle game if we become practiced in analysing long-

held commonplace concepts and showing the circumstances on which their

justification and usefulness depend, and how they have grown up, individually, out

of the givens of experience. Thus their excessive authority will be broken. They willbe removed if they cannot be properly legitimated, corrected if their correlation withgiven things be far too superfluous, or replaced if a new system can be established thatwe prefer for whatever reason.

o Obituary for physicist and philosopherErnst Mach,Physikalische Zeitschrift17(1916)

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.
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o Letter to Alfred Kneser (7 June 1918); Doc. 560 in The Collected Papers ofAlbert Einstein Vol. 8

I have also considered many scientific plans during my pushing you around in your pram!

o Letter to his son Hans Albert Einstein(June 1918)

Make a lot of walks to get healthy and dont read that much but save yourself some untilyoure grown up.

o Letter to his son Eduard Einstein (June 1918)

Dear mother! Today a joyful notice. H. A. Lorentz has telegraphed me that the Englishexpeditions have really proven the deflection of light at the sun.

o Postcard to his motherPauline Einstein (1919)

How much do I love that noble man

More than I could tell with words...

How much do I love that noble man

More than I could tell with words

I fear though he'll remain alone

With a holy halo of his own.o Poem by Einstein on Spinoza(1920), as quoted inEinstein and Religion (1999)

by Max Jammer"Einstein's Poem on Spinoza" (with scans of original Germanmanuscript) at Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden University

We may assume the existence of an aether; only we must give up ascribing a definitestate of motion to it, i.e. we must by abstraction take from it the last mechanicalcharacteristic which Lorentz had still left it.

o On the irrelevance of the luminiferous aether hypothesis to physicalmeasurements, in an address at the University of Leiden (May 5, 1920)

What lead me more or less directly to the special theory of relativity was the convictionthat the electromotive force acting on a body in motion in a magnetic field was nothingelse but an electric field.
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o Letter to the Michelson Commemorative Meeting of the Cleveland PhysicsSociety as quoted by R.S.Shankland, Am J Phys 32, 16 (1964), p35, republishedin A P French, Special Relativity, ISBN 0177710756

Raffiniert ist der Herrgott, aber boshaft ist er nicht.

o Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not.

o Remark made during Einstein's first visit to Princeton University. (April 1921) asquoted inEinstein (1973) by R.W. Clark, Ch. 14. "God is slick, but he aintmean" is a variant translation of this (1946) Unsourced variant: "God is subtle buthe is not malicious."

o When asked what he meant by this he replied. "Nature hides her secret because ofher essential loftiness, but not by means of ruse." (Die Natur verbirgt ihrGeheimnis durch die Erhabenheit ihres Wesens, aber nicht durch List.) As quotedin Subtle is the Lord The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein (1982) by

Abraham Pais einsteinandreligion.com Originally said to Princeton University mathematics professor Oscar

Veblen, May 1921, while Einstein was in Princeton for a series of lectures,upon hearing that an experimental result by Dayton C. Miller ofCleveland, if true, would contradict his theory of gravitation. But the resultturned out to be false. Some say by this remark Einstein meant that Naturehides her secrets by being subtle, while others say he meant that nature ismischievous but not bent on trickery. [The Yale Book of Quotations byFred R. Shapiro, 2006]

I have second thoughts. Maybe God is malicious.o Quoted in Jamie Sayen,Einstein in America (1985). Said to Vladimir Bargmann,

with the meaning that God leads people to believe they understand things thatthey actually are far from understanding. [The Yale Book of Quotations by FredR. Shapiro, 2006]

Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yetthe real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secretof the 'old one'. I, at any rate, am convinced thatHe does not throw dice.

o Letter to Max Born (4 December 1926); The Born-Einstein Letters (translated by

Irene Born) (Walker and Company, New York, 1971) ISBN 0-8027-0326-7. Thisquote is commonly paraphrased "God does not play dice" or"God does notplay dice with the universe", and other slight variants.

Whether you can observe a thing or not depends on the theory which you use. It is

the theory which decides what can be observed.
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I believe in Spinoza's God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in aGod Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.

I believe in Spinoza's God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world,

not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.o In response the telegrammed question of New York's Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein

in (24 April 1929): "Do you believe in God? Stop. Answer paid 50 words."Einstein replied in only 25 (German) words. Spinoza's ideas of God are oftencharacterized as beingpantheistic.

o Expanding on this he later wrote: "I can understand your aversion to the use of theterm 'religion' to describe an emotional and psychological attitude which showsitself most clearly in Spinoza... I have not found a better expression than'religious' for the trust in the rational nature of reality that is, at least to a certainextent, accessible to human reason."

As quoted inEinstein : Science and Religionby Arnold V. Lesikar

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... I do know that I get

most joy in life out of my violin.

o As quoted in "What Life Means to Einstein : An Interview by George SylvesterViereck" in The Saturday Evening PostVol. 202 (26 October 1929), p. 113 , alsoin Glimpses of the Great(1930) by George Sylvester Viereck

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.

o As quoted in "What Life Means to Einstein : An Interview by George SylvesterViereck" in The Saturday Evening PostVol. 202 (26 October 1929), p. 117

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important thanknowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
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I'm not an atheist and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the

position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different

languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not

know how. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the

books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the

most intelligent human being toward God. We see a universe marvelously arrangedand obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited mindscannot grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations. I am fascinated bySpinoza's pantheism, but admire even more his contributions to modern thought becausehe is the first philosopher to deal with the soul and the body as one, not two separatethings.

o As quoted in Glimpses of the Great(1930) by G. S. Viereck There have beendisputes on the accuracy of this quotation.

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

o Letter to his son Eduard (5 February 1930)

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

o Aphorism for a friend (18 September 1930) [Einstein Archive 36-598]; as quotedinAlbert Einstein: Creator and Rebel(1988) by Banesh Hoffman

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.

o Comment during an interview.Belgenland(December 1930).

It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the

human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.

o Letter to Vegetarian Watch-Tower(27 December 1930)

I am not only apacifist but amilitant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothingwill end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.

o Interview with George Sylvester Viereck (January 1931)

I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than

knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire

world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real

factor in scientific research.

o Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein,p. 97; also in Transformation : Arts, Communication, Environment(1950) byHarry Holtzman, p. 138

For any one who is pervaded with the sense of causal law in all that happens, who acceptsin real earnest the assumption of causality, the idea of a Being who interferes with the
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sequence of events in the world is absolutely impossible. Neither the religion of fear northe social-moral religion can have any hold on him.

o As quoted inHas Science Discovered God? : A Symposium of Modern ScientificOpinion (1931) by Edward Howe Cotton, p. 101

By the way, there are increasing signs that the Russian trials are not faked, but that thereis a plot among those who look upon Stalin as a stupid reactionary who has betrayed theideas of the revolution. Though we find it difficult to imagine this kind of internal thing,those who know Russia best are all more or less of the same opinion. I was firmlyconvinced to begin with that it was a case of a dictator's despotic acts, based on lies anddeception, but this was a delusion.

o Letter to Max Born (no date, 1937 or 1938); The Born-Einstein Letters (translatedby Irene Born) (Walker and Company, New York, 1971) ISBN 0-8027-0326-7. Borncommented: "The Russian trials were Stalin's purges, with which he attempted toconsolidate his power. Like most people in the West, I believed these show trials

to be the arbitrary acts of a cruel dictator. Einstein was apparently of a differentopinion: he believed that when threatened by Hitler the Russians had no choicebut to destroy as many of their enemies within their own camp as possible. I findit hard to reconcile this point of view with Einstein's gentle, humanitariandisposition."

Falling in love is not at all the most stupid thing that people do but gravitation cannot be heldresponsible for it.

As an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents... I congratulate you on thegreat successes of your life's work.

o Einstein's lettertoNikola Tesla for Tesla's 75th birthday (1931)

Falling in love is not at all the most stupid thing that people do but gravitation

cannot be held responsible for it.

o Jotted (in German) on the margins of a letter to him (1933). As quoted in AlbertEinstein, The Human Side : New Glimpses From His Archives (1981)ISBN0691023689

o Unsourced variants: Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. /You can't blame gravity for falling in love.
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I am the one to whom you wrote in care of the Belgian Academy... Read no newspapers,try to find a few friends who think as you do, read the wonderful writers of earlier times,Kant, Goethe, Lessing, and the classics of other lands, and enjoy the natural beauties ofMunich's surroundings. Make believe all the time that you are living, so to speak, onMars among alien creatures and blot out any deeper interest in the actions of those

creatures. Make friends with a few animals. Then you will become a cheerful man oncemore and nothing will be able to trouble you.Bear in mind that those who are finer and nobler are always alone and necessarily so and that because of this they can enjoy the purity of their own atmosphere.I shake your hand in heartfelt comradeship, E.

o Response to a letter from an unemployed professional musician (5 April 1933) asquoted inAlbert Einstein: The Human Side (1981) edited by Helen Dukas andBanesh Hoffman ISBN 0691023689

o The editors precede this passage thus, "Early in 1933, Einstein received a letterfrom a professional musician who presumably lived in Munich. The musician was

evidently troubled and despondent, and out of a job, yet at the same time, he musthave been something of a kindred spirit. His letter is lost, all that survives beingEinstein's reply....Note the careful anonymity of the first sentence the recipientwould be safer that way:"Albert Einstein: The Human Side concludes with thispassage, followed by the original passages in German.

It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basicelements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequaterepresentation of a single datum of experience.

It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the

irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to

surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience. o "On the Method of Theoretical Physics" The Herbert Spencer Lecture, delivered

at Oxford (10 June 1933); also published in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 1, No. 2(April 1934), pp. 163-169. [thanks to Dr. Techie @ www.wordorigins.org andJSTOR]

o Variants: Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.
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o This is very similar to "Occam's Razor", with the addition that it warns about toomuch simplicity. Dubbed ''Einstein's razor, it is used when an appeal to Occam'srazorresults in an over-simplified explanation insufficient to meet needs or goals.It is also similar to one expression of what has become known as the "KISSprinciple":KeepItSimple,Stupid but never oversimplify.

There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable. It wouldmean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.

o "Atom Energy Hope is Spiked By Einstein / Efforts at Loosing Vast Force isCalled Fruitless,"Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (29 December 1934) It was followingthe breakthroughs by Enrico Fermi and others did the use of nuclear powerbecome plausible.

It has often been said, and certainly not without justification, that the man of science is apoor philosopher. Why then should it not be the right thing for the physicist to let thephilosopher do the philosophizing? Such might indeed be the right thing to do a timewhen the physicist believes he has at his disposal a rigid system of fundamental lawswhich are so well established that waves of doubt can't reach them; but it cannot be rightat a time when the very foundations of physics itself have become problematic as they arenow. At a time like the present, when experience forces us to seek a newer and moresolid foundation, the physicist cannot simply surrender to the philosopher the criticalcontemplation of theoretical foundations; for he himself knows best and feels more surelywhere the shoe pinches. In looking for an new foundation, he must try to make clear inhis own mind just how far the concepts which he uses are justified, and are necessities.

o "Physics and Reality" in theJournal of the Franklin Institute Vol. 221, Issue 3(March 1936)

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree... The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.

o "Physics and Reality" inJournal of the Franklin Institute (March 1936) as quotedinEinstein: A Biography (1954) by Antonina Vallentin, p. 24.Variants:

o The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility The fact that it iscomprehensible is a miracle.

o One may say "the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
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Out of My Later Years (1956) this rendition reads as if he is quoting orparaphrasing the statement of someone else perhaps Immanuel Kant,whom he cites in the next sentence.

o One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

As quoted inDisturbing the Universe (1979), by Freeman Dyson Ch. 5

o The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all

comprehensible.

As quoted in Speaking of Science (2000) by Michael Fripp

Human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanityhas every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above thediscoverers of objective truth.

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations

are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical

existence and leading the individual towards freedom. It is no mere chance that ourolder universities developed from clerical schools. Both churches and universities insofar as they live up to their true function serve the ennoblement of the individual.They seek to fulfill this great task by spreading moral and cultural understanding,renouncing the use of brute force.The essential unity of ecclesiastical and secular institutions was lost during the 19thcentury, to the point of senseless hostility. Yet there was never any doubt as to thestriving for culture. No one doubted the sacredness of the goal. It was the approach thatwas disputed.

o "Moral Decay" (1937); Later published in Out of My Later Years (1950)

Our time is distinguished by wonderful achievements in the fields of scientificunderstanding and the technical application of those insights. Who would not be

cheered by this? But let us not forget that human knowledge and skills alone cannot

lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the

proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective

truth. What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for mehigher than all the achievements of the enquiring and constructive mind.What these blessed men have given us we must guard and try to keep alive with all
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our strength if humanity is not to lose its dignity, the security of its existence, and its

joy in living.

o Written statement (September 1937) as quoted inAlbert Einstein, The HumanSide: New Glimpses From His Archives (1981) edited by Helen Dukas andBanesh Hoffman ISBN 0691023689

I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary, for intellectual workers to get together,both to protect their own economic status and, also, generally speaking, to secure theirinfluence in the political field.

o In a comment explaining why he joined the American Federation of Teacherslocal number 552 as a charter member (1938)

What these blessed men have given us we must guard and try to keep alive with all our strengthif humanity is not to lose its dignity, the security of its existence, and its joy in living.

Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may

seem, uniquely determined by the external world. In our endeavor to understandreality we are somewhat like a man trying to understand the mechanism of a closedwatch. He sees the face and the moving hands, even hears its ticking, but he has no wayof opening the case. If he is ingenious he may form some picture of a mechanism whichcould be responsible for all the things he observes, but he may never be quite sure his

picture is the only one which could explain his observations. He will never be able tocompare his picture with the real mechanism and he cannot even imagine the

possibility or the meaning of such a comparison. But he certainly believes that, as hisknowledge increases, his picture of reality will become simpler and simpler and willexplain a wider and wider range of his sensuous impressions. He may also believe in theexistence of the ideal limit of knowledge and that it is approached by the human

mind. He may call this ideal limit the objective truth. o The Evolution of Physics (1938) (co-written with Leopold Infeld)

Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one everin flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.

o Statement on the occasion of Gandhi's 70th birthday (1939) Einstein archive 32-601, published in Out of My Later Years (1950).

o Frequently seen variant: Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe thatsuch a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.
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I received your letter of June 10th. I have never talked to a Jesuit priest in my life

and I am astonished by the audacity to tell such lies about me. From the viewpoint

of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.

o Letter to Guy H. Raner Jr. (2 July 1945), responding to a rumor that a Jesuit priesthad caused Einstein to convert to Christianity, quoted in an article by Michael R.Gilmore in Skeptic magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2, (1997)

When the expected course of everyday life is interrupted, we are like shipwrecked people on amiserable plank in the open sea, having forgotten where they came from and not knowingwhither they are drifting...

For the most part we humans live with the false impression of security and a feelingof being at home in a seemingly trustworthy physical and human environment. Butwhen the expected course of everyday life is interrupted, we are like shipwrecked peopleon a miserable plank in the open sea, having forgotten where they came from and notknowing whither they are drifting. But once we fully accept this, life becomes easier andthere is no longer any disappointment.

o Letter (26 April 1945); as quoted inAlbert Einstein, The Human Side: NewGlimpses From His Archives (1981) edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh HoffmanISBN 0691023689

The position in which we are now is a very strange one which in general political life

never happened. Namely, the thing that I refer to is this: To have security againstatomic bombs and against the other biological weapons, we have to prevent war, for

if we cannot prevent war every nation will use every means that is at their disposal;

and in spite of all promises they make, they will do it. At the same time, so long as waris not prevented, all the governments of the nations have to prepare for war, and if youhave to prepare for war, then you are in a state where you cannot abolish war.This is really the cornerstone of our situation. Now, I believe what we should try to

bring about is the general conviction that the first thing you have to abolish is war

at all costs, and every other point of view must be of secondary importance.

o Address to the symposium "The Social Task of the Scientist in the Atomic Era" atthe Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey (17 November 1946)

It is a scale of proportions which makes the bad difficult and the good easy.
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Er ist eine Skala der Proportionen, die das Schlechte schwierig und das Gute leicht

macht.o It is a scale of proportions which makes the bad difficult and the good easy.

On the Golden ratio. Letter sent to Le Corbusier(1946); quoted inModulor(1953)

I agree with your remark about loving your enemy as far as actions are concerned. Butfor me the cognitive basis is the trust in an unrestricted causality. 'I cannot hate him,because he mustdo what he does.' That means for me more Spinoza than the prophets.

o On the Christian maxim "Love thy enemy", in a letter to Michele Besso (6January 1948)

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

o As quoted by Virgil Henshaw inAlbert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist(1949)

I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike

one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of theprofessional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from thefetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humilitycorresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of

our own being.

o Letter to Guy H. Raner Jr. (28 September 1949), from article by Michael R.Gilmore in Skeptic magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1997)

Taken on the whole, I would believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightenedof all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit... not touse violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in what we believe is evil.

o United Nations radio interview recorded in Einstein's study, Princeton, NewJersey, (1950)

Scientific endeavor is a natural whole the parts of which mutually support one another in a waywhich, to be sure, no one can anticipate.

For scientific endeavor is a natural whole the parts of which mutually support one

another in a way which, to be sure, no one can anticipate.
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o On scientific freedom and holism or holistic science, in Out of My Later Years(1950), p. 12 a collection of Einstein's essays which cover a period of 1934 to1950.

The highest principles for our aspirations and judgments are given to us in the

Jewish-Christian religious tradition. It is a very high goal which, with our weakpowers, we can reach only very inadequately, but which gives a sure foundation to

our aspirations and valuations.

o On religion and society, in Out of My Later Years (1950), p. 27.

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

o Out of My Later Years (1950), p.13

Everyone is aware of the difficult and menacing situation in which human society --

shrunk into one community with a common fate now finds itself, but only a few

act accordingly. Most people go on living their every-day life: half frightened, halfindifferent, they behold the ghostly tragi-comedy which is being performed on theinternational stage before the eyes and ears of the world. But on that stage, on which theactors under the floodlights play their ordained parts, our fate of tomorrow, life or deathof the nations, is being decided.

o "The Menace of Mass Destruction" in Out of My Later Years (1950)

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time

and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separatedfrom the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of

prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few personsnearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circleof compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is initself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

o Letter of 1950, as quoted in The New York Times (29 March 1972) and The NewYork Post(28 November 1972). However, The New Quotable Einstein by AliceCalaprice (Princeton University Press, 2005: ISBN 0691120749), p. 206, has adifferent and presumably more accurate version of this letter, which she dates toFebruary 12, 1950 and describes as "a letter to a distraught father who had lost his

young son and had asked Einstein for some comforting words": A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time

and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate fromthe resta kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneselffrom this delusion is the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish it but to try toovercome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of piece of mind.
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I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in allhuman affairs.

o Statement upon joining the Montreal Pipe Smokers Club. (1950)

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.

o Letter to California student E. Holzapfel (March 1951) Einstein Archive 59-1013,quoted inAlbert Einstein, the Human Side (1979) by Helen Dukas and BaneshHoffman, and in The New Quotable Einstein (2005) by Alice Calaprice

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

o Letter to Carl Seelig (11 March 1952), Einstein Archives 39-013

A truly rational theory would allow us to deduce the elementary particles (electron,etc.)and not be forced to state them a priori.

o Letter to Michele Besso (10 September 1952), Letter n190, Correspondance,1903-1955, by Pierre Speziali, Michele Angelo Besso, published by Hermann,1972.

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is

being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never

denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called

religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as

our science can reveal it.

o Letter to an atheist (1954) as quoted inAlbert Einstein: The Human Side (1981)edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh HoffmanISBN 0691023689

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudicesof their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.
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Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from

the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of

forming such opinions.o Ideas and Opinions (1954)

The idea of achieving security through national armament is, at the present state ofmilitary technique, a disastrous illusion.

o Ideas and Opinions (1954)

Development of Western Science is based on two great achievements the invention ofthe formal logical system (in Euclidean geometry) by the Greek philosophers, and thediscovery of the possibility to find out causal relationships by systematic experiment(during the Renaissance). In my opinion, one has not to be astonished that the Chinesesages have not made these steps. The astonishing thing is that these discoveries weremade at all.

o Quoted in Cleopatra's Nose, Essays on the Unexpected, Daniel J Boorstin (1995),New York: Vintage Books, p3).

Working on the final formulation of technological patents was a veritable blessing forme. It enforced many-sided thinking and also provided important stimuli to physicalthought. [Academia] places a young person under a kind of compulsion to produceimpressive quantities of scientific publications a temptation to superficiality.

o As quoted in "Who Knew?" at NationalGeographic.com (May 2005)

The reciprocal relationship of epistemology and science is of noteworthy kind. They are

dependent on each other. Epistemology without contact with science becomes an emptyscheme. Science without epistemology is insofar as it is thinkable at all primitiveand muddled.

o Contribution inAlbert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, P.A. Schilpp, ed. (TheLibrary of Living Philosophers, Evanston, IL (1949), p. 684)

I have found no better expression than "religious" for confidence in the rational

nature of reality, insofar as it is accessible to human reason. Whenever this feeling is

absent, science degenerates into uninspired empiricism.

o Letter to Maurice Solovine, (1 January 1951) [Einstein Archive 21-174];published inLetters to Solovine (1993)

I believe, indeed, that overemphasis on the purely intellectual attitude, often

directed solely to the practical and factual, in our education, has led directly to the

impairment of ethical values. I am not thinking so much of the dangers with whichtechnical progress has directly confronted mankind, as of the stifling of mutual humanconsiderations by a "matter-of-fact" habit of thought which has come to lie like a killing
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frost upon human relations. ... The frightful dilemma of the political world situation hasmuch to do with this sin of omission on the part of our civilization. Without "ethicalculture," there is no salvation for humanity.

o "The Need for Ethical Culture" celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of theEthical Culture Society (5 January 1951).

Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down by the mind beforeyou reach eighteen.

o As quoted inMathematics, Queen and Servant of the Sciences (1952) byEricTemple Bell

o Unsourced variant : Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by ageeighteen.

The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human

weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which arenevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) changethis. For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childishsuperstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality Ihave a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as myexperience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protectedfrom the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen'about them.

o Gutkind Letter (3 January 1954), "Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makesview of religion relatively clear", The Guardian, 13 May 2008.

If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would nottry to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or apeddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available underpresent circumstances.

o Letter to the editor ofThe Reporterabout the situation of scientists in America(13 October 1954).

Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means

nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between

past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

o Letter to the family of his lifelong friend Michele Besso, after learning of hisdeath, (March 1955) as quoted in Science and the Search for GodDisturbing theUniverse (1979) by Freeman Dyson Ch. 17 "A Distant Mirror" ; also quoted atEinstein's God(NPR)
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The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing. The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for

existing. One cannot help but be in awe when contemplating the mysteries of eternity, oflife, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend alittle of the mystery every day. The important thing is not to stop questioning; neverlose a holy curiosity.

o Statement to William Miller, as quoted inLIFEmagazine (2 May 1955)

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

o As quoted byLIFEmagazine (2 May 1955)

That is simple my friend: because politics is more difficult than physics.

o Response to being asked why people could discover atomic power, but not themeans to control it, as quoted in The New York Times (22 April 1955)

Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an

equation is something for eternity.

o Helle Zeit, Dunkle Zeit: In Memoriam Albert Einstein (1956) edited by CarlSeelig, p. 71.

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

o An explanation of relativity which he gave to his secretary Helen Dukas toconvey to non-scientists and reporters, as quoted inBest Quotes of '54, '55, l56(1957) by James B. Simpson; also inExpandable Quotable Einstein (2005) editedby Alice Calaprice

o This was also quoted by Steve Mirsky in Scientific American (September 2002).Vol. 287, Iss. 3; pg. 102, but within a satirical piece, where the "original source"is cited as being afictitious magazine:

Amazingly, the pretty girl/hot stove quote is actually the abstract from a short paperwritten by Einstein that appeared in the now defunct Journal of Exothermic Science andTechnology (JEST, Vol. 1, No. 9; 1938).
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Paraphrased variant: Put your hand on a hot stove and it seems like an hour. Sitwith a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.

What is thought to be a "system" is after all, just conventional, and I do not see how one issupposed to divide up the world objectively so that one can make statements about parts.

I just want to explain what I mean when I say that we should try to hold on to physicalreality.We are ... all aware of the situation regarding what will turn out to be the basicfoundational concepts in physics: the point-mass or the particle is surely not among them;the field, in the Faraday-Maxwell sense, might be, but not with certainty. But that which

we conceive as existing ("real") should somehow be localized in time and space. That is,the real in one part of space,A, should (in theory) somehow "exist" independently of thatwhich is thought of as real in another part of space, B. If a physical system stretches overA andB, then what is present inB should somehow have an existence independent ofwhat is present inA. What is actually present inB should thus not depend the type ofmeasurement carried out in the part of spaceA; it should also be independent of whetheror not a measurement is made inA.If one adheres to this program, then one can hardly view the quantum-theoreticaldescription as a complete representation of the physically real. If one attempts,nevertheless, so to view it, then one must assume that the physically real inB undergoes asudden change because of a measurement inA. My physical instincts bristle at that

suggestion.However, if one renounces the assumption that what is present in different parts of spacehas an independent, real existence, then I don't see at all what physics is supposed to bedescribing. Forwhat is thought to be a "system" is after all, just conventional, and Ido not see how one is supposed to divide up the world objectively so that one can

make statements about parts.o "What must be an essential feature of any future fundamental physics?" Letter to

Max Born; published inAlbert Einstein-Hedwig und Max Born (1969)"Briefwechsel 1916-55"

In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to

recognise, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what makes me really angryis that they quote me for support of such views.

o Statement to German anti-Nazi diplomat and author Prince Hubertus zuLowenstein around 1941, as quoted in his bookTowards the Further Shore : AnAutobiography (1968)
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Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind allthe discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable.

Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find

that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle,

intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can

comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious. o Response to atheist, Alfred Kerr(Winter 1927) who after deriding ideas of God

and religion at a dinner party in the home of the publisherSamuel Fischer, had

queried him "I hear thatyou are supposed to be deeply religious" as quoted in TheDiary of a Cosmopolitan (1971) by H. G. Kessler , 1971)

Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that muchin the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanaticorgy of freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally beingdeceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression. Mistrust of every kindof authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude toward the convictions

that were alive in any specific social environment an attitude that has never again

left me, even though, later on, it has been tempered by a better insight into the

causal connections.

o Autobiographical Notes (1979) Edited by Paul Arthur Schilpp

Then I would have felt sorry for the dear Lord. The theory is correct.

o As quoted inReality and Scientific Truth : Discussions with Einstein, von Laue,and Planck(1980) by Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider, p. 74

o When asked by a student what he would have done if SirArthur Eddington'sfamous 1919 gravitational lensing experiment, which confirmed relativity, hadinstead disproved it.
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In the temple of science are many mansions, and various indeed are they that dwell therein andthe motives that have led them thither.

Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But I do not doubt that the lion belongs to

it even though he cannot at once reveal himself because of his enormous size.o As quoted by Abraham Pais in Subtle is the Lord:The Science and Life of Albert

Einstein (1982) ISBN 0-192-80672-6

Deep religiosity... found an abrupt ending at the age of twelve, through the reading ofpopular scientific books.

o As quoted inEinstein, History, and Other Passions (1996), by Gerald Holton, p.172

Never memorize what you can look up in books.

o As quoted in "Recording the Experience" (10 June 2004) at The Library ofCongress

I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV

will be fought with sticks and stones.

o Letter to Harry S. Truman as quoted in The culture of Einstein" by Alex Johnsonat MSNBC (18 April 2005)

Even on the most solemn occasions I got away without wearing socks and hid that lack ofcivilisation in high boots.

o Albert Einstein in a letter to his cousin and second wife Elsa, during a visit to the

University of Oxford, in collection donated to the Hebrew University ofJerusalem in Israel by Einstein's stepdaughter Margot.

o quoted in "Einstein in no-sock shock",New Scientist(15 July 2006)

It is high time the ideal of success should be replaced with the ideal of service ...

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
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o As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for SpiritualHealing(2006) by Larry Chang, p. 330

o Unsourced variant : Only a life in the service of others is worth living.

[edit] Principles of Research (1918)

Address at the Physical Society, Berlin, for Max Planck's 60th birthday

The state of mind which enables a man to do work of this kind is akin to that of the religiousworshiper or the lover; the daily effort comes from no deliberate intention or program, butstraight from the heart.

In the temple of science are many mansions, and various indeed are they that dwell

therein and the motives that have led them thither. Many take to science out of ajoyful sense of superior intellectual power; science is their own special sport to whichthey look for vivid experience and the satisfaction of ambition; many others are to befound in the temple who have offered the products of their brains on this altar for purelyutilitarian purposes. Were an angel of the Lord to come and drive all the peoplebelonging to these two categories out of the temple, the assemblage would be

seriously depleted, but there would still be some men, of both present and past

times, left inside. Our Planckis one of them, and that is why we love him.

I am quite aware that we have just now lightheartedly expelled in imagination manyexcellent men who are largely, perhaps chiefly, responsible for the buildings of thetemple of science; and in many cases our angel would find it a pretty ticklish job todecide. But of one thing I feel sure: if the types we have just expelled were the only typesthere were, the temple would never have come to be, any more than a forest can growwhich consists of nothing but creepers. For these people any sphere of human activitywill do, if it comes to a point; whether they become engineers, officers, tradesmen, orscientists depends on circumstances.

Now let us have another look at those who have found favor with the angel. Most ofthem are somewhat odd, uncommunicative, solitary fellows, really less like each

other, in spite of these common characteristics, than the hosts of the rejected. What

has brought them to the temple? That is a difficult question and no single answer

will cover it.
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The state of mind which enables a man to do work of this kind is akin to that of the

religious worshiper or the lover; the daily effort comes from no deliberate intention

or program, but straight from the heart.

Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and

intelligible picture of the world; he then tries to some extent to substitute thiscosmos of his for the world of experience, and thus to overcome it. This is what the

painter, the poet, the speculative philosopher, and the natural scientist do, each in

his own fashion. Each makes this cosmos and its construction the pivot of his emotionallife, in order to find in this way the peace and security which he cannot find in the narrowwhirlpool of personal experience.

o Variant translation: One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and scienceis escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, fromthe fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs toescape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.With this negative motive goes a positive one. Man seeks to form for himself, inwhatever manner is suitable for him, a simplified and lucid image of the

world, and so to overcome the world of experience by striving to replace it to

some extent by this image. This is what the painter does, and the poet, the

speculative philosopher, the natural scientist, each in his own way. Into this

image and its formation, he places the center of gravity of his emotional life,

in order to attain the peace and serenity that he cannot find within the

narrow confines of swirling personal experience.

o As quoted in The Professor, the Institute, and DNA (1976) by Rene Dubos; also inThe Great Influenza (2004) by John M. Barry

The supreme task of the physicist is to arrive at those universal elementary lawsfrom which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction. There is no logical path

to these laws; only intuition, resting on sympathetic understanding of experience,

can reach them. In this methodological uncertainty, one might suppose that there wereany number of possible systems of theoretical physics all equally well justified; and thisopinion is no doubt correct, theoretically. But the development of physics has shown thatat any given moment, out of all conceivable constructions, a single one has alwaysproved itself decidedly superior to all the rest.

I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.
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[edit] Viereck interview (1929)

"What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck"The Saturday Evening Post(26October 1929) p. 17. As reported inEinstein A Life (1996) by Denis Brian, when asked about a clippingfrom a magazine article reporting his comments on Christianity as taken down by Viereck, Einsteincarefully read the clipping and replied, "That is what I believe."

As a child, I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew,but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.

Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can disposeof Christianity with a bon mot.

No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personalitypulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.

[edit] Wisehart interview (1930?)

Much reading after a certain age diverts the mind from its creative pursuits. Any

man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of

thinking, just as the man who spends too much time in the theaters is apt to be contentwith living vicariously instead of living his own life.

M. K. Wisehart,A Close Look at the World's Greatest Thinker, American Magazine, June 1930

[edit] Religion and Science (1930)

New York Times Magazine (November 9, 1930) Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the

satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of pain. One has to keep thisconstantly in mind if one wishes to understand spiritual movements and theirdevelopment. Feeling and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor andhuman creation, in however exalted a guise the latter may present themselves to us.

The desire for guidance, love, and support prompts men to form the social or moralconception of God. This is the God of Providence, who protects, disposes, rewards, andpunishes; the God who, according to the limits of the believer's outlook, loves andcherishes the life of the tribe or of the human race, or even or life itself; the comforter insorrow and unsatisfied longing; he who preserves the souls of the dead. This is the socialor moral conception of God.

The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from the religion of fear tomoral religion, a development continued in the New Testament. The religions of allcivilized peoples, especially the peoples of the Orient, are primarily moral religions. Thedevelopment from a religion of fear to moral religion is a great step in peoples' lives.

And yet, that primitive religions are based entirely on fear and the religions of

civilized peoples purely on morality is a prejudice against which we must be on our

guard. The truth is that all religions are a varying blend of both types, with this
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differentiation: that on the higher levels of social life the religion of morality

predominates.

o Variant translation: It is easy to follow in the sacred writings of the Jewish peoplethe development of the religion of fear into the moral religion, which is carriedfurther in the New Testament. The religions of all civilized peoples, especiallythose of the Orient, are principally moral religions. An important advance in thelife of a people is the transformation of the religion of fear into the moral religion.

Common to all these types is the anthropomorphic character of their conception of God.In general, only individuals of exceptional endowments, and exceptionally high-mindedcommunities, rise to any considerable extent above this level. But there is a third stage ofreligious experience which belongs to all of them, even though it is rarely found in a pureform: I shall call it cosmic religious feeling. It is very difficult to elucidate this feelingto anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic

conception of God corresponding to it.

The individual feels the futility of human desires and aims and the sublimity and

marvelous order which reveal themselves both in nature and in the world of

thought. Individual existence impresses him as a sort of prison and he wants toexperience the universe as a single significant whole. The beginnings of cosmic religiousfeeling already appear at an early stage of development, e.g., in many of the Psalms ofDavid and in some of the Prophets. Buddhism, as we have learned especially from thewonderful writings ofSchopenhauer, contains a much stronger element of this. Thereligious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious

feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man's image; so that there

can be no church whose central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely

among the heretics of every age that we find men who were filled with this highest

kind of religious feeling and were in many cases regarded by their contemporaries

as atheists, sometimes also as saints. Looked at in this light, men like Democritus,

Francis of Assisi, and Spinoza are closely akin to one another.

It is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive inthose who are receptive to it.

How can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person to another, if it

can give rise to no definite notion of a God and no theology? In my view, it is the

most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in

those who are receptive to it.
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The man who is thoroughly convinced of the universal operation of the law of causationcannot for a moment entertain the idea of a being who interferes in the course of events provided, of course, that he takes the hypothesis of causality really seriously. He hasno use for the religion of fear and equally little for social or moral religion. A God whorewards and punishes is inconceivable to him for the simple reason that a man's actions

are determined by necessity, external and internal, so that in God's eyes he cannot beresponsible, any more than an inanimate object is responsible for the motions itundergoes. Science has therefore been charged with undermining morality, but thecharge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy,

education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would

indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes

of reward after death.

o Variant: "It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropologicalconcept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goaloutside the human sphere" has been citedas a statement that precedes the lastthree sentences here, but this might have originated in a paraphrase, atranscription error, or a misquotation; it does not appear in any editions of theessay which have thus far been checked.

It is therefore easy to see why the churches have always fought science and persecuted itsdevotees. On the other hand, I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is thestrongest and noblest motive for scientific research. Only those who realize theimmense efforts and, above all, the devotion without which pioneer work in theoreticalscience cannot be achieved are able to grasp the strength of the emotion out of whichalone such work, remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can issue. What adeep conviction of the rationality of the universe and what a yearning to understand, wereit but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world, KeplerandNewtonmusthave had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in disentangling the principles ofcelestial mechanics! Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derivedchiefly from its practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the

mentality of the men who, surrounded by a skeptical world, have shown the way to

kindred spirits scattered wide through the world and through the centuries. Onlyone who has devoted his life to similar ends can have a vivid realization of what hasinspired these men and given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite ofcountless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength. Acontemporary has said, not unjustly, that in this materialistic age of ours the seriousscientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.
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Schopenhauer's saying, that "a man can do as he will, but not will as he will," has been aninspiration to me since my youth up, and a continual consolation and unfailing well-spring ofpatience in the face of the hardships of life...

[edit] Mein Weltbild (1931)

"Mein Weltbild" (1931) [My World-view, "My View of the World"] translated as the title essay"The WorldAs I See It"from the bookThe World As I See It(1949).] Various translated editions have been publishedof this essay; or portions of it, including one titled "What I Believe"; another compilation which includes itisIdeas and Opinions (1954)

How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for whatpurpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeperreflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people first of all forthose upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, andthen for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties ofsympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer lifeare based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself

in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

In human freedom in the philosophical sense I am definitely a disbeliever. Everybodyacts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity.Schopenhauer's saying, that "a man can do as he will, but not will as he will," has

been an inspiration to me since my youth up, and a continual consolation and

unfailing well-spring of patience in the face of the hardships of life, my own and

others'. This feeling mercifully mitigates the sense of responsibility which so easily

becomes paralyzing, and it prevents us from taking ourselves and other people too

seriously; it conduces to a view of life in which humor, above all, has its due place.

I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves this critical

basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time aftertime have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty,

and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupationwith the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientificendeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible.
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My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly withmy pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities.

o Variant translation: I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends inthemselves such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. Theideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me newcourage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Withoutthe sense of fellowship with men of like mind, of preoccupation with theobjective, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific research, lifewould have seemed to me empty. The ordinary objects of human endeavor

property, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible.

My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted

oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings

and human communities.

I gang my own gait and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, oreven my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties I have neverlost an obstinate sense of detachment, of the need for solitude a feeling whichincreases with the years.

o Variant translation: I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to mycountry, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my wholeheart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a

need for solitude...

My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no

man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessiveadmiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of myown. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand thefew ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. Iam quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking

and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced,they must be able to choose their leader.
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The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the State but the creative,sentient individual, the personality...

An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion, soon degenerates. For force always

attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of

genius are succeeded by scoundrels. For this reason I have always been passionately

opposed to systems such as we see in Italy and Russia to-day.o Variant translation: In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon

degenerates; force attracts men of low morality...

The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the State but

the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the

sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.

This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of the herd nature, the military system,

which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation to the

strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big

brain by mistake; a backbone was all he needed. This plague-spot of civilizationought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism by order, senseless violence,

and all the pestilent nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism how I hate

them! War seems to me a mean, contemptible thing: I would rather be hacked in

pieces than take part in such an abominable business.

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt.

He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would

fully suffice. This disgrace to civilisation should be done away with at once. Heroism

at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I

hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds

than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak ofwar is nothing but an act of murder.
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