“MY DEAR CHILDREN: I rejoice to see you before me today, happy youth of a sunny and fortunate land. Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations, produced by enthusiastic effort and infinite labor in every country of the world. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honor it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children. Thus do we mortals achieve immortality in the permanent things which we create in common. If you always keep that in mind you will find a meaning in life and work and acquire the right attitude toward other nations and ages.”
―
Albert Einstein
“It is very difficult to explain this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it. The individual feels the nothingness of human desires and aims and the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves both in Nature and in the world of though. He looks upon individual existence as a sort of prison and wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly 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. Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men and given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite of countless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength. A contemporary has said, not unjustly, that in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.”
―
Albert Einstein
“To invent something, all you need is imagination and a big pile of junk.”
―
Albert Einstein
“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.”
―
Albert Einstein
“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom. Without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Albert Einstein believes in humanity, in a peaceful world of mutual helpfulness, and in the high mission of science.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Always do what's right; this will gratify some and astonish the rest”
―
Albert Einstein
Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity.”
―
Albert Einstein
“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”
―
Albert Einstein
“The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.”
―
Albert Einstein
“Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.”
―
Albert Einstein
“One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.”
―
Albert Einstein
