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Author Topic: Albert Einstein . Why Socialism ?  (Read 6174 times)

Contro

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Albert Einstein . Why Socialism ?
« on: September 25, 2017, 04:46 PM »
Why Socialism ?

Spoiler
Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of reasons that it is.

Let us first consider the question from the point of view of scientific knowledge. It might appear that there are no essential methodological differences between astronomy and economics: scientists in both fields attempt to discover laws of general acceptability for a circumscribed group of phenomena in order to make the interconnection of these phenomena as clearly understandable as possible. But in reality such methodological differences do exist. The discovery of general laws in the field of economics is made difficult by the circumstance that observed economic phenomena are often affected by many factors which are very hard to evaluate separately. In addition, the experience which has accumulated since the beginning of the so-called civilized period of human history has—as is well known—been largely influenced and limited by causes which are by no means exclusively economic in nature. For example, most of the major states of history owed their existence to conquest. The conquering peoples established themselves, legally and economically, as the privileged class of the conquered country. They seized for themselves a monopoly of the land ownership and appointed a priesthood from among their own ranks. The priests, in control of education, made the class division of society into a permanent institution and created a system of values by which the people were thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social behavior.

But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called "the predatory phase" of human development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases. Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future.

Second, socialism is directed towards a social-ethical end. Science, however, cannot create ends and, even less, instill them in human beings; science, at most, can supply the means by which to attain certain ends. But the ends themselves are conceived by personalities with lofty ethical ideals and—if these ends are not stillborn, but vital and vigorous—are adopted and carried forward by those many human beings who, half unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society.

For these reasons, we should be on our guard not to overestimate science and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems; and we should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society.

Innumerable voices have been asserting for some time now that human society is passing through a crisis, that its stability has been gravely shattered. It is characteristic of such a situation that individuals feel indifferent or even hostile toward the group, small or large, to which they belong. In order to illustrate my meaning, let me record here a personal experience. I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind, and I remarked that only a supra-national organization would offer protection from that danger. Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly, said to me: "Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?" I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind. It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding. It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering in these days. What is the cause? Is there a way out?

It is easy to raise such questions, but difficult to answer them with any degree of assurance. I must try, however, as best I can, although I am very conscious of the fact that our feelings and strivings are often contradictory and obscure and that they cannot be expressed in easy and simple formulas.

Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being. As a solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that of those who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to develop his innate abilities. As a social being, he seeks to gain the recognition and affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their pleasures, to comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their conditions of life. Only the existence of these varied, frequently conflicting, strivings accounts for the special character of a man, and their specific combination determines the extent to which an individual can achieve an inner equilibrium and can contribute to the well-being of society. It is quite possible that the relative strength of these two drives is, in the main, fixed by inheritance. But the personality that finally emerges is largely formed by the environment in which a man happens to find himself during his development, by the structure of the society in which he grows up, by the tradition of that society, and by its appraisal of particular types of behavior. The abstract concept "society" means to the individual human being the sum total of his direct and indirect relations to his contemporaries and to all the people of earlier generations. The individual is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much upon society—in his physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society. It is "society" which provides man with food, clothing, a home, the tools of work, language, the forms of thought, and most of the content of thought; his life is made possible through the labor and the accomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden behind the small word “society.” It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and bees is fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary instincts, the social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are very variable and susceptible to change. Memory, the capacity to make new combinations, the gift of oral communication have made possible developments among human being which are not dictated by biological necessities. Such developments manifest themselves in traditions, institutions, and organizations; in literature; in scientific and engineering accomplishments; in works of art. This explains how it happens that, in a certain sense, man can influence his life through his own conduct, and that in this process conscious thinking and wanting can play a part.

Man acquires at birth, through heredity, a biological constitution which we must consider fixed and unalterable, including the natural urges which are characteristic of the human species. In addition, during his lifetime, he acquires a cultural constitution which he adopts from society through communication and through many other types of influences. It is this cultural constitution which, with the passage of time, is subject to change and which determines to a very large extent the relationship between the individual and society. Modern anthropology has taught us, through comparative investigation of so-called primitive cultures, that the social behavior of human beings may differ greatly, depending upon prevailing cultural patterns and the types of organization which predominate in society. It is on this that those who are striving to improve the lot of man may ground their hopes: human beings are not condemned, because of their biological constitution, to annihilate each other or to be at the mercy of a cruel, self-inflicted fate.

If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact that there are certain conditions which we are unable to modify. As mentioned before, the biological nature of man is, for all practical purposes, not subject to change. Furthermore, technological and demographic developments of the last few centuries have created conditions which are here to stay. In relatively densely settled populations with the goods which are indispensable to their continued existence, an extreme division of labor and a highly-centralized productive apparatus are absolutely necessary. The time—which, looking back, seems so idyllic—is gone forever when individuals or relatively small groups could be completely self-sufficient. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that mankind constitutes even now a planetary community of production and consumption.

I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals.

For the sake of simplicity, in the discussion that follows I shall call “workers” all those who do not share in the ownership of the means of production—although this does not quite correspond to the customary use of the term. The owner of the means of production is in a position to purchase the labor power of the worker. By using the means of production, the worker produces new goods which become the property of the capitalist. The essential point about this process is the relation between what the worker produces and what he is paid, both measured in terms of real value. Insofar as the labor contract is “free,” what the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he produces, but by his minimum needs and by the capitalists' requirements for labor power in relation to the number of workers competing for jobs. It is important to understand that even in theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product.

Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights. The situation prevailing in an economy based on the private ownership of capital is thus characterized by two main principles: first, means of production (capital) are privately owned and the owners dispose of them as they see fit; second, the labor contract is free. Of course, there is no such thing as a pure capitalist society in this sense. In particular, it should be noted that the workers, through long and bitter political struggles, have succeeded in securing a somewhat improved form of the “free labor contract” for certain categories of workers. But taken as a whole, the present day economy does not differ much from “pure” capitalism.

Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers' goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society. Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?

Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service.

Albert Einstein Quotes

Scientist preferred by : Mouser , Shades
until this moment 25.09.2017.22.33
Links to Albert Einstein : 1 2 3 4 5 6

QUOTES

Edited : 08.10.2017.11.32 Why Socialism ?



« Last Edit: October 08, 2017, 12:55 PM by Contro »

Contro

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Re: Albert Einstein
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2017, 09:11 AM »
Quotes collection
Spoiler
How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked to pieces than take part in such an abominable business.
How was I able to live alone before, my little everything? Without you I lack self-confidence, passion for work, and enjoyment of life--in short, without you, my life is no life. \n[Written to his wife, Mileva]
However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.
Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
human community life cannot long endure on a basis of crude force, brutality, terror, and hate. Only understanding for our neighbors, justice in our dealings, and willingness to help our fellow men can give human society permanence and assure security for the individual.
Human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life.
Human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth.
I am a deeply religious nonbeliever. This is a somewhat new kind of religion.
I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene….No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus.
I am absolutely convinced that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward, even in the hands of the most devoted worker in this cause. The example of great and pure characters is the only thing that can produce fine ideas and noble deeds. Money only appeals to selfishness and always tempts its owners irresistibly to abuse it. Can anyone imagine Moses, Jesus, or Gandhi armed with the money-bags of Carnegie?
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. [The Yale Book of Quotations]
I am ceaselessly occupied with the question of the constitution of radiation … This quantum question is so incredibly important and difficult that everyone should busy himself on it.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
I am not a genius, I am just curious. I ask many questions. and when the answer is simple, then God is answering.
I am not more gifted than anybody else. I am just more curious than the average person and I will not give up a problem until I have found the proper solution.
I am not more gifted than the average human being. If you know anything about history, you would know that is so--what hard times I had in studying and the fact that I do not have a memory like some other people do… I am just more curious than the average person and I will not give up on a problem until I have found the proper solution. This is one of my greatest satisfactions in life--solving problems--and the harder they are, the more satisfaction do I get out of them. Maybe you could consider me a bit more patient in continuing with my problem than is the average human being. Now, if you understand what I have just told you, you see that it is not a matter of being more gifted but a matter of being more curious and maybe more patient until you solve a problem.
I am predominantly critical concerning the activities, and especially the political activities, through history of the official clergy. \n1950, catholic-church
I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.
I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. It's because of them I'm doing it myself.
I asked myself childish questions and proceeded to answer them.
I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research.
I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research. \n, On Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms
I believe in intuitions and inspirations...I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am.
I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind... to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein (1929)
I believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, physically and mentally.
I believe that better times are coming.
I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.
I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime.
I cannot conceive of a great scientist without this profound faith: Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.
I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary, for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own economic status and also, generally speaking, to secure their influence in the political field.
I didn't arrive at my understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe through my rational mind.
I didn't kill that man and if you say I did I'll deny everything.
I do not at all believe in human freedom in the philosophical sense... Schopenhauer’s saying, ‘A man can do what he wants, but not will what he wants,’ has been a very real inspiration to me since my youth; it has been a continual consolation in the face of life’s hardships, my own and others’, and an unfailing wellspring of tolerance. This realization mercifully mitigates the easily paralyzing sense of responsibility and prevents us from taking ourselves and other people too seriously; it is conducive to a view of life which, in part, gives humour its due.
I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws.
I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern without any superhuman authority behind it.
I do not believe that a man should be restrained in his daily actions by being afraid of punishment after death or that he should do things only because in this way he will be rewarded after he dies.
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the Earth might be killed, but enough men capable of thinking, and enough books, would be left to start again, and civilization could be restored.
I do not believe there is a way in which this deeply entrenched evil can be quickly healed. But until this goal is reached there is no greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the good cause.
I do not teach anyone I only provide the environment in which they can learn
I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference!
I don't pretend to understand the universe — it's much bigger than I am.
I don't try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.
I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.
I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.
I find the idea quite intolerable that an electron exposed to radiation should choose of its own free will not only its moment to jump off but its direction. In that case I would rather be a cobbler, or even an employee in a gaming house, than a physicist.
I fully agree with you about the significance and educational value of methodology as well as history and philosophy of science. So many people today - and even professional scientists - seem to me like somebody who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is - in my opinion - the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth. \n[Correspondance to Robert Thorton in 1944]
I gang my own gait 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 an obstinate sense of detachment, of the need for solitude — a feeling which increases with the years.
I have deep faith that the principle of the universe will be beautiful and simple.
I have little patience with scientists who take a board of wood, look for its thinnest part, and drill a great number of holes where drilling is easy.
I have never imputed to Nature a purpose or a goal, or anything that could be understood as anthropomorphic. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.
I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. 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.
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
I have not eaten enough of the tree of knowledge, though in my profession I am obligated to feed on it regularly.
I have reached an age where if someone tells me to wear socks, I dont have to
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.
I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.
I love Humanity but I hate humans
I love to travel, but hate to arrive
I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research.
I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.
I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking
I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music
I prefer to make up my own quotes and attribute them to very smart people, so that I can use them to win arguments
I received your letter of June 10th. I have never talked to a Jesuit priest in my life and I am astonished by the audacity to tell such lies about me. From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.
I see a clock, but I cannot envision the clockmaker. The human mind is unable to conceive of the four dimensions, so how can it conceive of a God before whom a thousand years and a thousand dimensions are as one? Cosmic \n, Quotable Einstein: An A to Z Glossary of Quotations
I see my life in terms of music.
I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.
I speak to you today not as an American citizen and not as a Jew, but as a human being
I think 99 times and find nothing. I stop thinking, swim in silence, and the truth comes to me.
I think and think for months and years, ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.
I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.
I thought of that while riding my bicycle.
I very rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express in words afterwards. [Productive Thinking, 1959]
I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.
I want to know God's thoughts - the rest are mere details.
I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details.
I want to oppose the idea that the school has to teach directly that special knowledge and those accomplishments which one has to use later directly in life. The demands of life are much too manifold to let such a specialized training in school appear possible [...] The development of general ability for independent thinking and judgement should always be placed foremost.
I was barked at by numerous dogs who are earning their food guarding ignorance and superstition for the benefit of those who profit from it. Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics and comes from the same source. They are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who—in their grudge against the traditional opium of the people—cannot bear the music of the spheres. The Wonder of nature does not become smaller because one cannot measure it by the standards of human morals and human aims.
I was made acutely aware how far superior an education that stresses independent action and personal responsibility is to one that relies on drill, external authority and ambition.
I was originally supposed to become an engineer but the thought of having to expend my creative energy on things that make practical everyday life even more refined, with a loathsome capital gain as the goal, was unbearable to me. \n, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein
I was very pleased with your kind letter. Until now I never dreamed of being something like a hero. But since you've given me the nomination I feel that I am one. \n, Dear Professor Einstein: Albert Einstein's Letters to and from Children
I would not think that philosophy and reason themselves will be man's guide in the foreseeable future; however, they will remain the most beautiful sanctuary they have always been for the select few.
I, at any rate, am convinced that He (God) does not throw dice.
I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right.
If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?.
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. [The Yale Book of Quotations]
If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.
If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.
If but a small part of Mme. Curie’s strength of character and devotion were alive in Europe’s intellectuals, Europe would face a brighter future.
If I can’t picture it, I can’t understand it.
If I could do it all again, I'd be a plumber.
If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.
If I had known they were going to do this, I would have become a shoemaker.
If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.
If I were not a Jew I would be a Quaker.
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music ... I cannot tell if I would have done any creative work of importance in music, but I do know that I get most joy in life out of my violin.
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.
If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity.
If I were to start taking care of my grooming, I would no longer be my own self ... [Letter, December 1913]
If it isn't urgent, worry about it later
If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies.... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.
If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare me a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German, and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.
If one purges all subsequent additions from the original teachings of the Prophets and Christianity, especially those of the priests, one is left with a doctrine that is capable of curing all the social ills of humankind. Statement
If one tries to navigate unknown waters one runs the risk of shipwreck
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
If someone can enjoy marching to music in rank and file, I can feel only contempt for him; he has received his large brain by mistake, a spinal cord would have been enough.
If something does not exist, then it makes it very difficult to give it a definition.
If something is in me which can be called religious, then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
If the answer is simple, God is speaking.
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man. \n1965, attributed-to-einstein-no-source
If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts
If there is any religion that could respond to the needs of modern science, it would be Buddhism.
If this conviction had not been a strongly emotional one and if those searching for knowledge had not been inspired by Spinoza's Amor Dei Intellectualis, they would hardly have been capable of that untiring devotion which alone enables man to attain his greatest achievements.
If tomorrow were never to come, it would not be worth living today. \n, On Humanism
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough…
If you can't do respect for yours, you can't do for others.
If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.
If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.
If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking
If you wish to learn from the theoretical physicist anything about the methods which he uses, I would give you the following piece of advice: Don't listen to his words, examine his achievements. For to the discoverer in that field, the constructions of his imagination appear so necessary and so natural that he is apt to treat them not as the creations of his thoughts but as given realities.
If you've never done anything wrong it's probably because you have never tried anything new.
if, relative to K, K’ is a uniformly moving co-ordinate system devoid of rotation, then natural phenomena run their course with respect to K’ according to exactly the same general laws as with respect to K. This statement is called the Principle of Relativity (in the restricted sense).
Il est plus facile de désintégrer un atome qu'un préjugé
Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.
Imagination is intelligence having fun.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulates progress, giving birth to evolution.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Imagination is the highest form of research.
Important to understand that even in theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product.
In a world where you can be anything, be yourself.
In electrodynamics the continuous field appears side by side with the material particle as the representative of physical reality. This dualism, though disturbing to any systematic mind, has today not yet disappeared...The successful physical systems that have been set up since then represent rather a compromise between these two programs, and it is precisely this character of compromise that stamps them as temporary and logically incomplete...I incline to the belief that physicists will...be brought back to the attempt to realize that program which may suitably be called Maxwell's: the description of physical reality by fields which satisfy...a set of partial differential equations.
In every true searcher of Nature \nthere is a kind of religious reverence
In my experience, the best creative work is never done when one is unhappy.
In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this religious feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.
In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all, be a sheep.
In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must, above all, be a sheep.
In scientific thinking are always present elements of poetry. Science and music requires a thought homogeneous.
In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fraulein Noether was the most significant mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began.
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.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity
In the temple of science are many mansions, and various indeed are they that dwell therein and the motives that have led them thither. Many take to science out of a joyful sense of superior intellectual power; science is their own special sport to which they look for vivid experience and the satisfaction of ambition; many others are to be found in the temple who have offered the products of their brains on this altar for purely utilitarian purposes. Were [someone to] drive all the people belonging to these two categories out of the temple, the assemblage would be seriously depleted, but there would still be some men, of both present and past times, left inside. Our Planck is one of them, and that is why we love him.
In the United States everyone feels assured of his worth as an individual. No one humbles himself before another person or class. Even the great difference in wealth, the superior power of a few, cannot undermine this healthy self-confidence and natural respect for the dignity of one’s fellow-man.
In the view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who says there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support of such views. (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University, page 214)
In times of crisis people are generally blind to everything outside their immediate necessities.
In two weeks the sheeplike masses of any country can be worked up by the newspapers into such a state of excited fury that men are prepared to put on uniforms and kill and be killed, for the sake of the sordid ends of a few interested parties.
Independent and stubborn natures, such as are particularly common among men of learning, do not readily bow to another's will and for the most part only accept his leadership grudgingly. But when Lorentz is in the presidential chair, an atmosphere of happy cooperation is invariably created, however much those present may differ in their aims and habits of thought. The secret of this success lies not only in his swift comprehension of people and things and his marvelous command of language, but above all in this, that one feels that his whole heart is in the business at hand, and that when he is at work, he has room for nothing else in his mind. Nothing disarms the recalcitrant so much as this.
Information is not knowledge.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Intellect has powerful muscles, but no personality.
Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.
Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.
Intelligence is not the ability to store information, but to know where to find it.
Intelligent life on other planets? I'm not even sure there is on earth!
Intuition,, not intellect, is the 'open sesame' of yourself.
Is human reason, then, without experience, merely by taking thought, able to fathom the properties of real things. In my opinion the answer to this question is, briefly, this:--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. \n, Sidelights on Relativity
Is it not better for a man to die for a cause in which he believes, such as peace, than to suffer for a cause in which he does not believe, such as war?
Isn't it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?
It cannot be doubted that the world crisis and the suffering and privations of the people resulting from the crisis are in some measure responsible for the dangerous upheavals of which we are the witness. In such periods discontent breeds hatred, and hatred leads to acts of violence and revolution, and often even to war.
It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
It is a scale of proportions which makes the bad difficult and the good easy
It is a special blessing to belong among those who can and may devote their best energies to the contemplation and exploration of objective and timeless things. How happy and grateful I am for having been granted this blessing, which bestows upon one a large measure of independence from one's personal fate and from the attitude of one's contemporaries. Yet this independence must not inure us to the awareness of the duties that constantly bind us to the past, present and future of humankind at large. \nOur situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here, involuntarily and uninvited, for a short stay, without knowing the why and the wherefore. In our daily lives we feel only that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own. \nI am often troubled by the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings, and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them. \nI do not believe in free will. Schopenhauer's words: 'Man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wills,' accompany me in all situations throughout my life and reconcile me with the actions of others, even if they are rather painful to me. This awareness of the lack of free will keeps me from taking myself and my fellow men too seriously as acting and deciding individuals, and from losing my temper. \nI have never coveted affluence and luxury and even despise them a good deal. My passion for social justice has often brought me into conflict with people, as has my aversion to any obligation and dependence I did not regard as absolutely necessary. \n\n[Part 2] \n\nI have a high regard for the individual and an insuperable distaste for violence and fanaticism. All these motives have made me a passionate pacifist and antimilitarist. I am against any chauvinism, even in the guise of mere patriotism. \nPrivileges based on position and property have always seemed to me unjust and pernicious, as does any exaggerated personality cult. I am an adherent of the ideal of democracy, although I know well the weaknesses of the democratic form of government. Social equality and economic protection of the individual have always seemed to me the important communal aims of the state. \nAlthough 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 keeps me from feeling isolated. \nThe most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as of all serious endeavour in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all there is.
It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry.
It is a wonderful feeling to recognize the unifying features of a complex of phenomena which present themselves as quite unconnected to the direct experience of the senses.
It is almost a miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom.
It is better to believe than to disbelieve; in doing you bring everything to the realm of possibility.
It is clear that all the valuable things, material, spiritual, and moral, which we receive from society can be traced back through countless generations to certain creative individuals. The use of fire, the cultivation of edible plants, the steam engine—each was discovered by one man.
It is difficult to say what truth is, but sometimes it is so easy to recognize a falsehood.
It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.
It is harder to crack prejudice than an atom.
It is humankind's duty to respect all life, not only animals have feelings but even also trees and plants.
It is important to foster individuality, for only the individual can produce the new ideas.
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.
It is my conviction that pure mathematical construction enables us to discover the concepts and the laws connecting them, which give us the key to the understanding of the phenomena of nature.
It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.
it is not difficult to understand why the general principle of relativity (on the basis of the equivalence principle) has led to a theory of gravitation.
It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.
It is only men who are free, who create the inventions and intellectual works which to us moderns make life worth while.
It is our American habit if we find the foundations of our educational structure unsatisfactory to add another story or wing.
It is right in principle that those should be the best loved who have contributed most to the elevation of the human race and human life.
It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs.
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
It is the theory which decides what can be observed
It is this mythical, or rather symbolic, content of the religious traditions which is likely to come into conflict with science. This occurs whenever this religious stock of ideas contains dogmatically fixed statements on subjects which belong in the domain of science.
It is true that my parents were worried because I began to speak fairely late, so that they even consulted a doctor. I can't say how old I was — but surely not less than three. [Letter, 1954]
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.
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.
It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.
It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
It was my good fortune to be linked with Mme. Curie through twenty years of sublime and unclouded friendship. I came to admire her human grandeur to an ever growing degree. Her strength, her purity of will, her austerity toward herself, her objectivity, her incorruptible judgement— all these were of a kind seldom found joined in a single individual... The greatest scientific deed of her life—proving the existence of radioactive elements and isolating them—owes its accomplishment not merely to bold intuition but to a devotion and tenacity in execution under the most extreme hardships imaginable, such as the history of experimental science has not often witnessed.
It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. \n, Albert Einstein: The Human Side
It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it,
It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.
It's all good.
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.
Jeder intelligente Narr kann Dinge größer und komplexer machen. Es braucht ein Stück Genialität – und jede Menge Mut -, sich in die entgegengesetzte Richtung zu bewegen.
Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot

« Last Edit: October 08, 2017, 12:23 PM by Contro »

Contro

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Re: Albert Einstein
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2017, 05:29 AM »
More quotes here :
Spoiler
[...] and I think (like you, by the way) that theory cannot be fabricated out of the results of observation, but that it can only be invented.   \n[Letter to Karl Popper; 11 Sep 1939]”
[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion.”
[The golden proportion] is a scale of proportions which makes the bad difficult [to produce] and the good easy.”
¡Triste época la nuestra! Es más fácil desintegrar un átomo que un prejuicio.”
¿Cómo debe comportarse el hombre si el Estado lo obliga a ciertas acciones que su conciencia considera injustas? La respuesta es fácil: dependes por completo de la sociedad en que vives. No tienes responsabilidad por esas acciones, cumplidas bajo coacción irresistible.”
¿Por qué debe temblar cada persona y cada país por la existencia de un país hostil? Porque cada uno busca su beneficio del momento, sin subordinarlo a la prosperidad y al bienestar de la comunidad. En todas partes se busca el camino hacia una existencia feliz y alegre por encima de la renuncia y la autolimitación.”
… there are no arbitrary constants ... nature is so constituted that it is possible logically to lay down such strongly determined laws that within these laws only rationally determined constants occur (not constants, therefore, whose numerical value could be changed without destroying the theory).”
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.”
A conviction akin to religious feeling of the rationality or intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a high order.”
A desk, some pads, a pencil, and a large basket -- to hold all of mu mistakes.”
A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth.”
A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.”
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”
A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.”
A large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our environment. In other words, it is tradition—besides inherited aptitudes and qualities—which makes us what we are. We but rarely reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerfu...   \nSee more”   \n, Essays in Humanism
A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires will sooner or later always lead to bitter disappointment.”
a man can do as he will, but not will as he will,”
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings.”
A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.”
A man's actions are determined by necessity, external and internal.”
A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes of reward after death.”
A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”
A man's value to the community depends primarily on how far his feelings, thoughts, and actions are directed towards promoting the good of his fellows.”
A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way, but intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.”
A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”
A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.”
A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.”
A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind.”
A practical profession is a salvation for a man of my type; an academic career compels a young man to scientific production and only strong characters can resist the temptation of superficial analysis.”
A problem can't be solved with the same level of thinking that created it.”
A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”
A serious-minded man enjoys a good laugh now and then.”
A society's competitive advantage will come not from how well its schools teach the multiplication and periodic tables, but from how well they stimulate imagination and creativity.”
A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?”
A theory is more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises, the more different are the kinds of things it relates, and the more extended its range of applicability.”
A theory is something nobody believes, except the person who made it. An experiment is something everybody believes, except the person who made it.”
A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
A un hombre interiormente libre, y escrupuloso, se le puede destruir, pero no se puede hacer de él ni un esclavo ni una herramienta ciega.”
ACADEMIC CHAIRS ARE MANY, but wise and noble teachers are few; lecture-rooms are numerous and large, but the number of young people who genuinely thirst after truth and justice is small.”
Adversity introduces a man to himself.”
After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are artists as well. Remark”
Aku takut suatu hari teknologi akan melampaui interaksi manusia. Dunia akan memiliki generasi idiot”
Albert Einstein believes in humanity, in a peaceful world of mutual helpfulness, and in the high mission of science.”
Albert Einstein quotes (showing 61-90 of 1,049)
All generalizations are false, including this one.”
All of science is nothing more than the refinement of everyday thinking.”
All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.”
All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have.”
All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom."   [Moral Decay (first published 1937)]”   , Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words
Although I am a typical loner in my daily life, my awareness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has prevented me from feelings of isolation.”
Although I have been prevented by outward circumstances from observing a strictly vegetarian diet, I have long been an adherent to the cause in principle. Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.”
Always do what's right; this will gratify some and astonish the rest”
America is a large country and its people have so far not shown much interest in great international problems, among which the problem of disarmament occupies first place today. This must be changed, if only in America’s own interest. The last war has shown that there are no longer any barriers between the continents and that the destinies of all countries are closely interwoven. The people of this country must realize that they have a great responsibility in the sphere of international politics. The part of passive spectator is unworthy of this country and is bound in the end to lead to disaster all round.”
An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion soon degenerates. For force always attract men of low morality.”
An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.”
An observer who is sitting eccentrically on the disc K' is sensible of a force which acts outwards in a radial direction, and which would be interpreted as an effect of inertia (centrifugal force) by an observer who was at rest with respect to the original reference-body K. But the observer on the disc may regard his disc as a reference body which is at rest”; on the basis of the general principle of relativity he is justified in doing this. The force acting on himself, and in fact on all other bodies which are at rest relative to the disc, he regards as the effect of a gravitational field.”     \n, Relativity: The Special and General Theory w/Figures & Formulas
And yet so high, in spite of everything, is my opinion of the human race that I believe this bogey would have disappeared long ago, had the sound sense of the nations not been systematically corrupted by commercial and political interests acting through the schools and the Press.”
Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.”
Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”
Any society which does not insist upon respect for all life must necessarily decay.”
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.”
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
artificial intellegance is no match for natural stupidity”
As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene . . . . No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrase-mongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot.   \n(Quote taken from What Life Means to Einstein,” The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929.)”
As a child I received instruction in both the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.”
As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.”
As far as our propositions are certain, they do not say anything about reality, and as far as they do say anything about reality, they are not certain"   \nAlbert Einstein (as cited in Schumpeter, 1991)”
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.”
As long as armies exist, any serious quarrel will lead to war.”
As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable.”
As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.”
As the area of light expands, so does the perimeter of darkness.”
At least once a day, allow yourself the freedom to think and dream for yourself.”
attributed, attributed-to-einstein-no-source, unsourced
Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.”
be a voice not an echo”
be the best loved who have contributed most to”
Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations. All this is put in 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.”
Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.”
bêtise-humaine, einstein, french, humour, infini, philosophie, science, universe
between what the worker produces and what he is paid, both measured in terms of real value. Insofar as the labor contract is "free," what the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he
Beware of flatterers, especially when they come preaching hatred.”
Beyond the realms of what we see, into the regions or the unexplored limited only by our imaginations.”
Black holes are where God divided by zero.”
Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
Brief is this existence, as a visit in a strange house. The path to be pursued is poorly lit by a flickering consciousness.”
Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.”
But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
But the scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. The future, to him, is every whit as necessary and determined as the past. There is nothing divine about morality; it is a purely human affair. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire. It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages.”
But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people--first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy.”
Certain it is that a conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality or intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a higher order.... This firm belief, a belief bound up with deep feeling, in a superior mind that reveals itself in the world of experience, represents my conception of God.”
Children don’t heed the life experiences of their parents, and nations ignore history. Bad lessons always have to be learned anew. ”
Ciertos tipos de transigencia son crímenes contra la humanidad, aunque se quiera presentárnoslos como pruebas de sabiduría política.”
Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.”
Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous.”
Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”
Common to all these types is the anthropomorphic character of their conception of God. In general, only individuals of exceptional endowments, and exceptionally high-minded communities, rise to any considerable extent above this level. But there is a third stage of religious experience which belongs to all of them, even though it is rarely found in a pure form: I shall call it cosmic religious feeling. It is very difficult to elucidate 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 futility of human desires and aims and the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves both in nature and in the world of thought. Individual existence impresses him as a sort of prison and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole. The beginnings of cosmic religious feeling already appear at an early stage of development, e.g., in many of the Psalms of David and in some of the Prophets. Buddhism, as we have learned especially from the wonderful writings of Schopenhauer, contains a much stronger element of this.”
Common to all these types is the anthropomorphic character of their conception of God. In general, only individuals of exceptional endowments, and exceptionally high-minded communities, rise to any considerable extent above this level. But there is a third stage of religious experience which belongs to all of them, even though it is rarely found in a pure form: I shall call it cosmic religious feeling. It is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it.”
Communities tend to be guided less than individuals by conscience and a sense of responsibility. How much misery does this fact cause mankind! It is the source of wars and every kind of oppression, which fill the earth with pain, sighs and bitterness.”
Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.”
Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.”
Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such an authority over us that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens. Thus they come to be stamped as necessities of thought”, a priori givens”, etc. The path of scientific advance is often made impassable for a long time through such errors. For that reason, it is by no means an idle game if we become practiced in analyzing the long commonplace concepts and exhibiting those circumstances upon which their justification and usefulness depend, how they have grown up, individually, out of the givens of experience. By this means, their all-too-great authority will be broken. They will be removed if they cannot be properly legitimated, corrected if their correlation with given things be far too superfluous, replaced by others if a new system can be established that we prefer for whatever reason.”
Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authority over us that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens.”
Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.”
Concern for man himself and his fate must always constitute the chief objective of all technological endeavors...in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.”
Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.”
Condemnation before investigation, is the highest form of ignorance.”
Conviction is a good motive, but a bad judge.”
Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up.”
Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.”
Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
Creativity is the residue of time wasted.”
Creo que la negativa al servicio militar por razones de conciencia, en caso que fiera hecha por cincuenta mil soldados, sería un poder irresistible. El individuo solo no puede obtener mucho. Aunque tampoco puede ser deseable que justamente los seres de más valor sean objeto de la destrucción por parte de esa maquinaria detrás de la cual se esconden tres grandes poderes: Imbecilidad, Temor y Codicia.”
Creo que la sobrevalorización de lo intelectual en nuestra educación, dirigida hacia la eficiencia y la practicidad, ha perjudicado los valores éticos.”
Cuando una persona puede obtener placer en marchar al ritmo de una pieza de música, esobasta para hacer que la desprecie. Se le ha dado su gran cerebro sólo por error.”
Curiosity is more important than knowledge.”
Dancers are the athletes of God.”
Dear Habicht, / Such a solemn air of silence has descended between us that I almost feel as if I am committing a sacrilege when I break it now with some inconsequential babble... / What are you up to, you frozen whale, you smoked, dried, canned piece of soul...?”     \n, Relativity: The Special and the General Theory
Debido a que el campo gravitatorio queda determinado por la configuración de masas y varía al variar dicha configuración, la estructura geométrica de este espacio depende también de los factores físicos. El espacio ya no es, pues, según esta teoría - exactamente como lo había presentido Riemann - absoluto, sino que su estructura depende de influencias físicas”
Deux choses sont infinies : l’Univers et la bêtise humaine. Mais, en ce qui concerne l’Univers, je n’en ai pas encore acquis la certitude absolue.”
Development of Western science is based on two great achievements: the invention of the formal logical system (in Euclidean geometry) by the Greek philosophers, and the discovery of the possibility to find out causal relationships by systematic experiment (during the Renaissance). In my opinion, one has not to be astonished that the Chinese sages have not made these steps. The astonishing thing is that these discoveries were made at all.”
Did you know: The only source of knowledge is experience”
Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.”
Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.”
Does there truly exist an insuperable contradiction between religion and science? Can religion be superseded by science?”
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity”
Don't do anything that goes against your conscience, even if your country says so.”
Don't dream of being a good person, be a human being is valuable and gives value to life.”
Don't listen to their words, fix your attention on their deeds.”
Don't think about why you question, simply don't stop questioning. Don't worry about what you can't answer, and don't try to explain what you can't know. Curiosity is its own reason. Aren't you in awe when you contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure behind reality? And this is the miracle of the human mind--to use its constructions, concepts, and formulas as tools to explain what man sees, feels and touches. Try to comprehend a little more each day. Have holy curiosity.”
Dua. I'm the master of my own fate - I'm the Captain of my soul. I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world.”
Due cose sono infinite: l'universo e la stupidità umana, ma riguardo l'universo ho ancora dei dubbi.”
During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution human fantasy created gods in man's own image, who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world. Man sought to alter the disposition of these gods in his own favor by means of magic and prayer. The idea of God in the religions taught at present is a sublimation of that old concept of the gods. Its anthropomorphic character is shown, for instance, by the fact that men appeal to the Divine Being in prayers and plead for the fulfillment of their wishes. Nobody, certainly, will deny that the idea of the existence of an omnipotent, just, and omnibeneficent personal God is able to accord man solace, help, and guidance; also, by virtue of its simplicity it is accessible to the most undeveloped mind. But, on the other hand, there are decisive weaknesses attached to this idea in itself, which have been painfully felt since the beginning of history. That is, if this being is omnipotent, then every occurrence, including every human action, every human thought, and every human feeling and aspiration is also His work; how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for their deeds and thoughts before such an almighty Being? In giving out punishment and rewards He would to a certain extent be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him?   \n(Albert Einstein, Science, Philosophy, and Religion, A 1934 Symposium published by the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to the Democratic Way of Life, Inc., New York, 1941; from Einstein's Out of My Later Years, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1970, pp. 26-27.)”
E=mc2”   \n, The Theory of Relativity and Other Essays
Each of us is here for a brief sojourn, for what purpose he knows not, though sometimes he thinks he feels it”
Earth is the insane asylum of the universe.”
Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”
Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think”
Ego=1/Knowledge   \n" More the knowledge lesser the ego, lesser the knowledge more the ego.”
Ein Freund ist ein Mensch, der die Melodie deines Herzen kennt und sie dir vorspielt, wenn du sie vergessen hast.”
Einstein was once asked how many feet are in a mile. Einstein's reply was "I don't know, why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?”
El año pasado pregunté a un conocido diplomático norteamericano de la Sociedad de Naciones por qué no amenazaban al Japón con un embargo comercial si continuaba con su campaña de violencia."Nuestros intereses económicos son demasiado poderosos" fue la respuesta. ¿Cómo es posible ayudar a los hombres si son capaces de contentarse con este tipo de argumentos?”
El Estado es para los hombres y no los hombres para el Estado. Como deber primero del Estado veo la protección del individuo, así como ofrecerle la posibilidad de desarrollar una personalidad creativa.”
El mundo no está amenazado por las malas personas sino por aquellos que permiten la maldad”
El nacionalismo es una enfermedad infantil. Es el sarampion de la humanidad.”
En la teoría de la relatividad, el sólido rígido y el reloj no juegan el papel de elementos irreductible en la estructuración de los conceptos físicos.”
En los momentos de crisis, solo la imaginación es mas importante q el conocimiento”
En los momentos de crisis, solo la imaginación es más importante que el conocimiento”
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.”
Entre las dificultades se esconde la oportunidad”
Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity.”
equations, eternity, future, mathematics, physics, politics, present, science
Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.”
Even on the most solemn occasions I got away without wearing socks and hid that lack of civilization in high boots”
Even then, a new branch of mythic thought had already grown strong, one not religious in nature but no less perilous to mankind -- exaggerated nationalism. Half a century has shown that this new adversary is so strong that it places in question man's very survival. It is too early for the present-day historian to write about this problem, but it is to be hoped that one will survive who can undertake the task at a later date.”       \n, Man and His Gods
Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”
Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.”
Every theory is killed sooner or later in that way. But if the theory has good in it, that good is embodied and continued in the next theory.”
Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity.”
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
everyday is an oportunity to make a new happy ending.........”
Everyone must become their own person, however frightful that may be.”
Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.”  \n, Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace and the Bomb
Everything has changed. . . except the way we think. The aim [of education] must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals, who, however, see in the service of community their highest life problems”
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.”
Everything is energy and that's all there is. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.”
Everything is energy.”
Everything must be made as simple as possible. But not simpler.”
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.”
Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of pain. One has to keep this constantly in mind if one wishes to understand spiritual movements and their development. Feeling and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor and human creation, in however exalted a guise the latter may present themselves to us.”
Evil is the absence of God.”
Excellence is doing a common thing in an uncommon way.”
Failing isn't bad when you learn what not to do.”
Failure is success in progress”
Fantasy is way more important than knowledge because knowledge is limited.”
Feeling and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor and human creation,”
Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”
Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social enviroment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions."    (Essay to Leo Baeck, 1953)”
For a scientist, altering your doctrines when the facts change is not a sign of weakness.”
For an idea that does not first seem insane, there is no hope.”
For any one who is pervaded with the sense of causal law in all that happens, who accepts in real earnest the assumption of causality, the idea of a Being who interferes with the sequence of events in the world is absolutely impossible. Neither the religion of fear nor the social-moral religion can have any hold on him.”
For human community life cannot long endure on a basis of crude force, brutality, terror, and hate.”
For rebelling against every form of authority fate has punished me by making me an authority.”
For there is much truth in the saying that it is easy to give just and wise counsel—to others!—but hard to act justly and wisely for oneself.”
For us physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one.”
For while religion prescribes brotherly love in the relations among the individuals and groups, the actual spectacle more resembles a battlefield than an orchestra. Everywhere, in economic as well as in political life, the guiding principle is one of ruthless striving for success at the expense of one's fellow. men. This competitive spirit prevails even in school and, destroying all feelings of human fraternity and cooperation, conceives of achievement not as derived from the love for productive and thoughtful work, but as springing from personal ambition and fear of rejection.”
Force always attracts men of low morality.”
From discord, find Harmony.”
From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other - above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”
funny-quotes, intelligence, life-lessons
Gandhi, the greatest political genius of our time, has pointed the way. He was shown of what sacrifices people are capable once they have found the right way. His work for the liberation of India is a living testimony to the fact that a will governed by firm conviction is stronger than a seemingly invincible material power.”
Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth. (said of Mahatma Gandhi)”
Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work...”
God always takes the simplest way.”
God does not play dice with the universe.”   , The Born-Einstein Letters 1916-55
God does not play dice”
God is subtle but he is not malicious.”
Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”
Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.”
Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.”
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
Growth comes through analogy; through seeing how things connect, rather than only seeing how they might be different.”
happy through the good fortunes and joys of your friends and not through senseless quarrels. If you allow these natural feelings to blossom within you, your every burden will seem lighter or more bearable to you, you will find your own way through patience, and you will spread joy everywhere.”    \n, Querido Profesor Einstein: Correspondencia entre Albert Einstein y los Niños
Have the courage to take your own thoughts   \nseriously, for they will shape you.”
Hay una fuerza motriz más poderosa que el vapor, la electricidad y la energía atómica. Esa fuerza es la voluntad”
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.”
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. Albert Einstein”
He who joyfully marches to music rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”
Here in America all pay lip service to the first, optimistic, tendency. Nevertheless, the second group is strongly represented. It appears on the scene everywhere, though for the most part it hides its true nature. Its aim is political and spiritual dominion over the people by a minority, by the circuitous route of control over the means of production. Its proponents have already tried to utilize the weapon of anti-Semitism as well as of hostility to various other groups. They will repeat the attempt in times to come. So far all such tendencies have failed because of the people’s sound political instinct. And so it will remain in the future, if we cling to the rule: Beware of flatterers, especially when they come preaching hatred.”
Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -how passionately I hate them!”
His historical picture closes with the end of the nineteenth century, and with good reason. By that time it seemed that the influence of these mythic, authoritatively anchored forces which can be denoted as religious, had been reduced to a tolerable level in spite of all the persisting inertia and hypocrisy.
Honestly, I cannot understand what people mean when they talk about the freedom of the human will. I have a feeling, for instance, that I will something or other; but what relation this has with freedom I cannot understand at all. I feel that I will to light my pipe and I do it; but how can I connect this up with the idea of freedom? What is behind the act of willing to light the pipe? Another act of willing? Schopenhauer once said: Der Mensch kann was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will (Man can do what he will but he cannot will what he wills).”
Hope that justice will be done to those brave men who stood up for their convictions.”
Hours before his death in 1955 from a ruptured abdominal aortic ayeurysm, Albert Einstein's doctors proposed trying a new and unproven surgery as a final option for extending his life. Einstein refused. "I have done my share," he said. "It is time to go. I will do it elegantly.”
How can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person to another, if it can give rise to no definite notion of a God and no theology? In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.”
How can it be that mathematics, being after all a product of human thought independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality?”
How did it come to pass that I was the one to develop the theory of relativity? The reason, I think, is that a normal adult never stops to think about problems of space and time. These are things which he has thought of as a child. But my intellectual development was retarded, as a result of which I began to wonder about space and time only when I had already grown up. Naturally I could go deeper into the problem than a child with normal abilities.”
How does it happen that a properly endowed natural scientist comes to concern himself with epistemology? Is there no more valuable work in his specialty? I hear many of my colleagues saying, and I sense it from many more, that they feel this way. I cannot share this sentiment. When I think about the ablest students whom I have encountered in my teaching, that is, those who distinguish themselves by their independence of judgment and not merely their quick-wittedness, I can affirm that they had a vigorous interest in epistemology. They happily began discussions about the goals and methods of science, and they showed unequivocally, through their tenacity in defending their views, that the subject seemed important to them. Indeed, one should not be surprised at this.”
How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of good will.”
How many people are trapped in their everyday habits: part numb, part frightened, part indifferent? To have a better life we must keep choosing how we're living.”
How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.”

« Last Edit: October 08, 2017, 12:23 PM by Contro »

Contro

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Re: Albert Einstein
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2017, 05:30 AM »
QUOTEs HERE
Spoiler
Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.
Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it isn't true.
Keep everything as simple as possible but no simpler.
Keep fighting until the last buzzer sounds.
Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow - perhaps it all will.
Know where to find the information and how to use it. That's the secret of success
Knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy, dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth.
Knowledge exists in two forms - lifeless, stored in books, and alive, in the consciousness of men. The second form of existence is after all the essential one; the first, indispensable as it may be, occupies only an inferior position.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.
La Creatividad es la Inteligencia divirtiéndose
La estructura del espacio no está determinada hasta que no sea conocida la funcióng-nyu-v. También se puede decir que la estructura de un espacio tal está, por sí mismo, completamente indeterminada.
la gravedad no es culpable que la gente se enamore
La imaginación es más importante que el conocimiento. El conocimiento es limitado, la imaginación rodea el mundo.
La labor más importante del ser humano es buscar la moralidad en sus actos. Es de lo que depende nuestro equilibrio interno, y nuestra propia existencia. La moralidad en nuestros actos es lo único que puede conferir belleza y dignidad a la vida. Quizá la principal tarea de la educación sea convertirlo en una fuerza vital, e inscribirlo claramente en las conciencias. Hay que evitar que los cimientos de la moral dependan de algún mito o estén ligados a alguna autoridad, debido al riesgo de que las dudas sobre el mito o sobre la legitimidad de la autoridad pongan en peligro los cimientos del buen juicio y de la acción correcta.
La primacía de los tontos es insuperable y está garantizada para todas las épocas. El terror de esta tiranía se mitiga por su ineficiencia y sus consecuencias.
La vie c’est comme la bicyclette : quand on arrête de pédaler on tombe.
Las gentes me cortejan en la medida que no las moleste. Pero cuando pretendo servir a objetivos que no les convienen pasan immediatamente al insulto, mientras que los indiferentes se esconden detras de su cobardía
Las investigaciones sobre los métodos técnicos han conducido a a la concentración de poder económico, y por tanto también político, en manos de una minoría, de cuyas manipulaciones depende por completo el destino de la masa de individuos. Tal concentración de poder económico y político en manos de unos pocos no sólo ha traído consigo una dependencia material, sino que también amenaza su existencia, impidiendo el desarrollo de una personalidad independiente, mediante el uso de medios de influencia espiritual muy refinados.
Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow.
Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.
Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.
Let every man judge according to his own standards, by what he has himself read, not by what others tell him.
Life is a Mystery, not a problem waiting to be solved.
Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.
Life is just like a game, \nFirst you have to learn rules of the game, \nAnd then play it better then any one else.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate.
Life isn't worth living, unless it is lived for someone else.
Life without playing music is inconceivable for me. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music, I get most joy in life out of music.
Light travels faster than sound, thats why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
live as if you were to die tommorow. \ndream as if you were to live forever
Lo más incomprensible de universo es que sea comprensible.
Locura es hacer la misma cosa una y otra vez esperando obtener diferentes resultados
Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Look to the stars and from them learn.
Los sistemas autocráticos y opresivos degeneran muy pronto. Pues la violencia atrae a individuos de escasa moral y es ley de vida que a tiranos geniales sucedan verdaderos canallas.
Love is a better master than duty.
Love is the answer
love of truth and insight which lent wings to the spirit of the Renaissance has grown cold,
Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler. \n, Selected Writings
Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.
Man is here for the sake of other men - above all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness depends.
Man usually avoids attributing cleverness to somebody else- unless it is an enemy
Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count, really count.
Mathematics is the poetry of logic and the music of reason.
Matter tells space how to curve, space tells matter how to move.
Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events
Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.
More and more I come to value charity and love of one's fellow being above everything else...All our lauded technological progress-our very civilization-is like the axe in the hand of the pathological criminal.
More careful reflection teaches us, however, that the special theory of relativity does not compel us to deny ether...To deny the ether is ultimately to assume that empty space has no physical qualities whatever.
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. [Conversations with Albert Einstein, 1920]
Mozart's music was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master.
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.
My pacifism is an instinctive feeling, a feeling that possesses me because the murder of men is disgusting. My attitude is not derived from any intellectual theory but is based on my deepest antipathy to every kind of cruelty and hatred.
My passionate interest in social justice and social responsibility has always stood in curious contrast to a marked lack of desire for direct association with men and women. I am a horse for single harness, not cut out for tandem or team work. I have never belonged wholeheartedly to country or state, to my circle of friends, or even to my own family. These ties have always been accompanied by a vague aloofness, and the wish to withdraw into myself increases with the years. Such isolation is sometimes bitter, but I do not regret being cut off from the understanding and sympathy of other men. I lose something by it, to be sure, but I am compensated for it in being rendered independent of the customs, opinions, and prejudices of others, and am not tempted to rest my peace of mind upon such shifting foundations.
My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced freedom from the need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I gang my own gait 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 an obstinate sense of detachment, of the need for solitude - a feeling which increases with the years. One is sharply conscious, yet without regret, of the limits to the possibility of mutual understanding and symphaty with one's fellow-creatures. Such a person no doubt loses something in the way of geniality and light-heartedness; on the other hand, he is largely independent of the opinions, habits, and judgements of his fellows and avoids the temptation to take his stand on such insecure foundations.
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 ... [The World As I See It, 1930]
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…
My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
My religiosity consists of a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.
My sense of god is my sense of wonder about the universe.
Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race.
Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race. [Albert Einstein, the Human Side]
Nationalism is an infantile thing. It is the measles of mankind.
Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But I do not doubt that the lion belongs to it even though he cannot at once reveal himself because of his enormous size.
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. [Smithsonian, February 1979]
Necessity is the mother of all invention.
Never argue with an artist.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice.
Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it.
Never do anything against your conscience even if the state demands it…
Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations. \n- From a speech to students at the California Institute of Technology, in Einstein Sees Lack in Applying Science, The New York Times (16 February 1931)
Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.
Never lose a holy curiosity.
Never memorize something that you can look up.
No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.
No es suficiente enseñar a los hombres una especialidad. Con ello se convierten en máquinas utilizables pero no en individuos válidos. Tiene que recibir un sentimiento vivo de lo bello y lo moralmente bueno. En caso contrario se parece más a un perro bien amaestrado que a un entre armónicamente desarrollado.
No fairer destiny could be allotted to any physical theory than that it should of itself point out the way to the introduction of a more comprehensive theory, in which it lives on as a limiting case.
No hay comentarios tontos, sino tontos que comentan.
No intento imaginar un Dios personal; es suficiente sentir un gran respeto hacia la estructura del mundo, en tanto que permite que nuestros inadecuados sentidos lo aprecien.
No man or Genie on earth had created anything, we merely assembled God's Atoms, by learning it's properties, with his aid, so if anyone said that we had invented anything - he had Invented a lie; an unwise man.... thinks we have created an atom.
No one does anything right in life, until they realize that they are making a mistake
No pienso nunca en el futuro porque llega muy pronto.
No pretendemos que las cosas cambien, si siempre hacemos lo mismo. La crisis es la mejor bendición que puede sucederle a las personas y paises, porque la crisis trae progresos, la creatividad nace de la angustia como el día de la noche oscura. Es de la crisis que nacen la inventiva, los descubrimientos y las grandes estrategias. Quien supera la crisis se supera a si mismo sin quedar superado. Quien atribuye la crisis a sus fracasos y penurias, violenta su propio talento y respeta más los problemas que las soluciones, la verdadera crisis es la crisis de la incompetencia. El inconveniente de las personas y los paises es la pereza para encontrar las salidas y soluciones. Sin la crisis no hay desafíos, sin desafíos la vida es una rutina, una lenta agonía. Sin crisis no hay méritos. Es en la crisis donde aflora lo mejor de cada uno, porque sin crisis todo viento es caricia. \n\nHablar de crisis es promoverla, y callar en la crisis es exaltar el conformismo. En vez de esto, trabajemos nuestro talento y nuestras habilidades para encontrar soluciones, acabemos de una sola vez con la única crisis amenazadora, que es la tragedia de no querer luchar por superarla.
No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew!
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.
No problem can be solved on the same level of consciousness that created it.
No, this trick won't work... How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?
Nobody knows how the stand of our knowledge about the atom would be without him. Personally, Bohr is one of the amiable colleagues I have met. He utters his opinions like one perpetually groping and never like one who believes himself to be in possession of the truth.
Non possiamo risolvere i problemi con lo stesso tipo di pensiero che abbiamo usato quando li abbiamo creati.
Nonsense, seems to sum up everything.
Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything than can be counted counts.
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts
Not mastery but service, will lead people in the right way.
Not until the creation and maintenance of decent conditions of life for all people are recognized and accepted as a common obligation of all people and all countries - not until then shall we, with a certain degree of justification, be able to speak of humankind as civilized.
Nothing happens until something moves.
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. [Letter, July 1947]
Nothing truly valuable can be achieved except by the unselfish cooperation of many individuals.
Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
Numerous are the academic chairs, but rare are wise and noble teachers. Numerous and large are the lecture halls, but far from numerous the young people who genuinely thirst for truth and justice. Numerous are the wares that nature produces by the dozen, but her choice products are few. \nWe all know that, so why complain? Was it not always thus and will it not always thus remain? Certainly, and one must take what nature gives as one finds it. But there is also such a thing as a spirit of the times, an attitude of mind characteristic of a particular generation, which is passed on from individual to individual and gives its distinctive mark to a society. Each of us has to his little bit toward transforming this spirit of the times.
Of all the communities available to us, there is not one I would want to devote myself to except for the society of the true seekers, which has very few living members at any one time.
of the actual objects of physical reality. Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended.
Of what is significant in one's own existence one is hardly aware, and it certainly should not bother the other fellow. What does a fish know about the water in which he swims all his life?
Oh juventud nunca dejes de pensar...
Older men start wars, but younger men fight them.
On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 70th birthday. Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.
Once a day allow yourself the freedom to dream...
Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.
Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.
once you stop learning you start dying
Once you stop learning, you start dying
Once you stop learning, you start dying…
One cannot alter a condition with the same mind set that created it in the first place.
One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.
One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.
One must divide one's time between politics and equations. But our equations are much more important to me, because politics is for the present, while our equations are for eternity.
One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.
One picture is worth a thousand words
One scientific epoch ended and another began with James Clerk Maxwell.
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.
One strength of the communist system of the East is that it has some of the character of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.
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.
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. [Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel, 1972]
one who has come to this country as a mature person may have a keen eye for everything peculiar and characteristic. I believe he should speak out freely on what he sees and feels, for by so doing he may perhaps prove himself useful.
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
Only a life lived for others is worth living…
Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.
Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty
Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.
Organized people are just too lazy to go looking for what they want.
Our separation from each other is an optical illusion.
Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore.
Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.
Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it's beauty.
ours is the first era in which it has been possible for people of different nations to conduct their affairs in a friendly and understanding manner. In the old days, peoples spent their lives fearing and even hating one another because of ignorance on all sides.
Out of clutter, find simplicity.
Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
Out yonder there is this huge world, which exists independently of us human beings and which stands before us like a great, eternal riddle, at least partially accessible to our inspection and thinking
Ownership of the means of production, on the other hand, carries a power to which the traditional safeguards of our political institutions are unequal.
Paper is to write things down that we need to remember. Our brains are used to think.
Para que sea eficaz el comportamiento ético de los hombres debe basarse en la compasión, la educación y en motivos sociales: no necesita de ninguna base religiosa. Sería muy triste por parte de la humanidad si sólo se refrenara por miedo al castigo y por esperanza de un premio después de la muerte.
Para ser un miembro irreprochable de un rebaño de ovejas hace falta primero ser oveja.
PARAPHRASE: Genius is not that you are smarter than everyone else. It is that you are ready to receive the inspiration.
Past is dead \nFuture is uncertain; \nPresent is all you have, \nSo eat, drink and live merry.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
Peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice, of law, of order —in short, of government.
People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live...[We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born~letter to Otto Juliusburger
People like you and me never grow old. We never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.
People like you and me, though mortal, of course, like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live. What I mean is that we never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we are born.
People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results.
Philosophers play with the word, like a child with a doll. It does not mean that everything in life is relative.
philosophical

« Last Edit: October 08, 2017, 12:22 PM by Contro »

mouser

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Re: Albert Einstein . Why Socialism ?
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2017, 09:40 AM »
This is some weird kind of hybrid post -- half political commentary, half quotes for Popup Wisdom.
I don't know where it should go, but probably it should be split up and the quotes put in the popup wisdom section and maybe merged.

Contro -- it's time for you to evolve to the next level of forum participant, where you spend a little bit more time thinking about the best way to organize and consolidate and phrase your posts so that they aren't so overwhelming and so people can engage you in discussion.

Sometimes less is more, and aiming for fewer posts that are more focused on eliciting useful comments and more finely editing and perfected would be better for all of us.  :up:

tomos

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Re: Albert Einstein . Why Socialism ?
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2017, 11:50 AM »
Put quotes in spoiler please:

[spoiler] QUOTEs HERE [/spoiler]
Tom

IainB

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This could be a potentially interesting political discussion.
Probably needs some more definition of terms first though.
There's quite a good summary here: The History of Socialism - Wikipedia, including Marxism and its offshoot, Leninism, etc., though the differences between pure/applied hegemonic and non-hegemonic approaches seem to be not too well covered.

For the relevant economic theory/practice there are numerous articles one can find on the subject of Keynesian economics (also textbooks) and the methods and successes of Communist command-and-control economics - and good examples of the latter in the shape of the USSR (post economic collapse) and China (post Mao's Revolutionary approach). Some very interesting YouTube videos on the USSR approach too, with commentary (some in Russian, with English subtitles) from people who survived it and experienced it first-hand as members of the aparatchnik.

The historical work and notable achievements of the main European socialist parties are worth studying also. Some people (not me, you understand) might say that one of the greatest exemplars was arguably the progressive National Socialist German Workers' Party during 1920 to 1945, but I couldn't possibly comment.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2017, 02:14 PM by IainB »