30 quotes that take you inside Albert Einstein's brilliant mind

Einstein on authority:

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"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

Source: "The Curious History of Relativity"

On scope:

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"Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But there is no doubt in my mind that the lion belongs with it even if he cannot reveal himself to the eye all at once because of his huge dimension."

Source: "Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance"

On relativity:

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"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it's only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it's two hours. That's relativity."

Source: New York Times

On his growth:

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"It is true that my parents were worried because I began to speak fairly late, so that they even consulted a doctor. I can't say how old I was but surely not less than three."

Source: "The Yale Book of Quotations"

On allegiance:

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"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."

Source: "The Yale Book of Quotations"

On curiosity:

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"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day."

Source: Nova

On certainty:

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"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."

Source: Oxford Reference

On humility:

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"As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists."

Source: "An Intimate Look at the Night Sky"

On common sense:

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"Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen."

Source: Oxford Reference

On success:

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"If A is a success in life, then A equals X plus Y plus Z. Work is X; Y is play; and Z is keeping your mouth shut."

Source: "Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations"

On opportunism:

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"In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity."

Source: Business Insider

On creativity:

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"Creativity is intelligence having fun."

Source: Business Insider

On individuality:

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"It is important for the common good to foster individuality: for only the individual can produce the new ideas which the community needs for its continuous improvement and requirements indeed, to avoid sterility and petrifaction."

Source: Nova

On nationalism:

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"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race."

Source: "Albert Einstein, the Human Side"

On mystery:

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"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed."

Source: "The World As I See It"

On solitude:

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"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 am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude."

Source: "The World As I See It"

On his mental development:

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"The ordinary adult never gives a thought to space-time problems ... I, on the contrary, developed so slowly that I did not begin to wonder about space and time until I was an adult. I then delved more deeply into the problem than any other adult or child would have done."

Source: Nova

On appearance:

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"If I were to start taking care of my grooming, I would no longer be my own self; so, the hell with it."

Source: "Einstein's Revolutionary Wisdom"

On imagination:

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"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Source: Today in Science History

On motivation:

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"The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time 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 occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible."

Source: "The World As I See It"

On education:

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"The aim [of education] must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life problem."

Source: Chemistry Education: Best Practices, Opportunities and Trends

On ambition:

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"Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men and towards objective things."

Source: Pass It On

On being an enigma:

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"Why is it that nobody understands me, and everybody likes me?"

Source: Nova

On learning:

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"Most teachers waste their time by asking questions that are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning is to discover what the pupil does know or is capable of knowing."

Source: Australian Council for Educational Research

On thinking:

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"I very rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express in words afterwards."

Source: The Psychology of Graphic Images: Seeing, Drawing, Communicating

On the future:

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

Source: "Civilization's Quotations"

On work ethic:

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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 worshipper or the lover; the daily effort comes from no deliberate intention or program, but straight from the heart."

Source: Nova

On living well:

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning."

Source: Business Insider

On hustling:

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"The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working."

Source: " The Ultimate Quotable Einstein "

On science:

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"One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike and yet it is the most precious thing we have."

Source: American Institute of Physics