“Your question is the most difficult in the world. It is not a question I can answer simply with yes or no. I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. May I not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought. Spinoza is the greatest of modern philosophers, because he is the first philosopher who deals with the soul and the body as one, not as two separate things.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Dear Habicht, / Such a solemn air of silence has descended between us that I almost feel as if I am committing a sacrilege when I break it now with some inconsequential babble... / What are you up to, you frozen whale, you smoked, dried, canned piece of soul...?”
―
Albert Einstein
“The mind that opens to a new idea never comes back to its original size.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.”
―
Albert Einstein
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
―
Albert Einstein
“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Some days you live in pajamas, and your hair kind-of has that Albert Einstein look.”
―
Albert Einstein
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life. All that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”
―
Albert Einstein
“The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don't know how or why.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”
―
Albert Einstein
“La teoria è quando si sa tutto e niente funziona. La pratica è quando tutto funziona e nessuno sa il perché. Noi abbiamo messo insieme la teoria e la pratica: non c'è niente che funzioni... e nessuno sa il perché!”
―
Albert Einstein
“Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.”
―
Albert Einstein
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
―
Albert Einstein
