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

“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.”

“One cannot alter a condition with the same mind set that created it in the first place.”

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

“Have the courage to take your own thoughts seriously, for they will shape you.”

“I think and think for months and years, ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.”

“We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. ”

“It is important to foster individuality, for only the individual can produce the new ideas.”

“Failure is success in progress”

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

“I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research.”

“Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it isn't true.”

“Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow - perhaps it all will.”

“Problems cannot be solved with the same mind set that created them.”

“I think 99 times and find nothing. I stop thinking, swim in silence, and the truth comes to me.”