“I don't pretend to understand the universe — it's much bigger than I am.”

“Growth comes through analogy; through seeing how things connect, rather than only seeing how they might be different.”

“Excellence is doing a common thing in an uncommon way.”

“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”

“Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as hard duty. Never regard study as duty but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.” 

“Don't dream of being a good person, be a human being is valuable and gives value to life.”

“The tendencies we have mentioned are something new for America. They arose when, under the influence of the two World Wars and the consequent concentration of all forces on a military goal, a predominantly military mentality developed, which with the almost sudden victory became even more accentuated. The characteristic feature of this mentality is that people place the importance of what Bertrand Russell so tellingly terms “naked power” far above all other factors which affect the relations between peoples. The Germans, misled by Bismarck’s successes in particular, underwent just such a transformation of their mentality—in consequence of which they were entirely ruined in less than a hundred years. I must frankly confess that the foreign policy of the United States since the termination of hostilities has reminded me, sometimes irresistibly, of the attitude of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II, and I know that, independent of me, this analogy has most painfully occurred to others as well. It is characteristic of the military mentality that non-human factors (atom bombs, strategic bases, weapons of all sorts, the possession of raw materials, etc.) are held essential, while the human being, his desires and thoughts—in short, the psychological factors—are considered as unimportant and secondary. Herein lies a certain resemblance to Marxism, at least insofar as its theoretical side alone is kept in view. The individual is degraded to a mere instrument; he becomes “human materiel.” The normal ends of human aspiration vanish with such a viewpoint. Instead, the military mentality raises “naked power” as a goal in itself—one of the strangest illusions to which men can succumb.”

“Past is dead Future is uncertain; Present is all you have, So eat, drink and live merry.”

“In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this religious feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.”

“It is humankind's duty to respect all life, not only animals have feelings but even also trees and plants.”

“A conviction akin to religious feeling of the rationality or intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a high order.”

“The human spirit must prevail over technology.”

“I don't 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.”

“When the solution is simple, God is answering.”

“We must be prepared to make the same heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war.”