13 quotes
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.
Essay to Leo Baeck (1953)
Whoever is careless with truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs.
One may say "the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world.
The Evolution of Physics (1938)
Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated.
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.
Sidelights on Relativity (1922)
People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
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.
All knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it. Propositions arrived at by purely logical means are completely empty as regards reality. Because Galileo saw this, and particularly because he drummed it into the scientific world, he is the father of modern physics – indeed, of modern science altogether.
On the Method of Theoretical Physics (1934)
One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.
Sidelights on Relativity (1922)
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 each day. Never lose a holy curiosity. ... Don't stop to marvel.
If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.
Misattributed Earliest attribution located is The Yogi and the Commissar by Arthur Koestler (1945)
My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance — but for us, not for God.
Attributed Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1979)