530 quotes
In the matter of physics, the first lessons should contain nothing but what is experimental and interesting to see. A pretty experiment is in itself often more valuable than twenty formulae extracted from our minds.
Attributed Conversations with Einstein by Alexander Moszkowski (1971)
Anonymity is no excuse for stupidity.
Attributed Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1979)
My God may not be your idea of God, but one thing I know of my God — he makes me a humanitarian. I am a proud Jew because we gave the world the Bible and the story of Joseph.
Attributed Einstein and the Poet (1983)
I want to know how God created this world. I'm not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details.
Attributed Einstein and Religion (1999)
If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination ... no more men!
Misattributed
International law exists only in textbooks on international law.
Misattributed
In the past it never occurred to me that every casual remark of mine would be snatched up and recorded. Otherwise I would have crept further into my shell.
Attributed Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1979)
I believe that we have to content ourselves with our imperfect knowledge and understanding and treat values and moral obligations as a purely human problem—the most important of all human problems.
Attributed Einstein and Religion (1999)
If I can't picture it, I can't understand it.
Attributed
The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly in the rampant growth of the so-called Theosophy and Spiritualism, is for me no more than a symptom of weakness and confusion. Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning.
Attributed Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1979)
The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.
Attributed Einstein's God (1997)
The really valuable thing is intuition.
Disputed
If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.
Misattributed According to The Quote Verifier (2006)
If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies.
Misattributed to Einstein in Treasury of the Christian Faith (1949)
You see, when a blind beetle crawls over the surface of a globe he doesn't notice that the track he has covered is curved. I was lucky enough to have spotted it.
Attributed to Einstein in Carl Seelig's Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography (1956)
Dogma is the enemy of progress (speech at Sorbonne, 1929)
Misattributed
No, this trick won't work. The same trick does not work twice. How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?
Attributed
I love to travel, but I hate to arrive.
Attributed
The measure of intelligence is the ability to change
Misattributed
You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
Misattributed