Albert Einstein Quotes

There is always a certain charm in tracing the evolution of theories in the original papers; often such study offers deeper insights into the subject matter than the systematic presentation of the final result polished by the words of many contemporaries.

in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people

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 naïve, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

Een mens is deel van het geheel dat wij ‘universum’ noemen; een deel dat begrensd is in tijd en ruimte. Hij ervaart zichzelf, zijn gedachten en gevoelens als iets dat gescheiden is van de rest – een soort optische illusie van zijn bewustzijn. Deze waanvoorstelling is een soort gevangenis voor ons, die ons beperkt tot onze persoonlijke verlangens en die onze genegenheid beperkt tot enkele mensen die ons het meest na staan. Het moet onze taak zijn om ons te bevrijden uit deze gevangenis, door onze cirkel van compassie uit te breiden tot deze alle levende wezens en de gehele natuur in al haar schoonheid omhelst. De echte waarde van een mens wordt bepaald door de mate en manier waarin hij bevrijd is van het zelf. Het zal een substantieel nieuwe manier van denken vergen als de mensheid wil overleven.’

“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.

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.

"Ông có tin vào Thượng đế không?"
- Tôi không phải là một người vô thần. Vấn đề đó quá lớn lao đối với đầu óc hữu hạn của chúng ta. Chúng ta giống như một đứa trẻ bước vào một thư viện lớn đầy những cuốn sách được viết bằng đủ các thứ tiếng. Đứa trẻ đó biết có người chắc chắn đã đọc hết những cuốn sách ở đây. Nó chỉ không biết làm thế nào để đọc được mà thôi. Nó không hiểu các ngôn ngữ được viết trong đó. Nó ngờ ngợ rằng có một trật tự bí ẩn trong cách trình bày các cuốn sách nhưng không biết trật tự đó là gì. Đối với tôi, có vẻ đây thậm chí là thái độ khôn ngoan nhất về Thượng đế. Chúng ta thấy vũ trụ được tuân theo một trật tự tuyệt đẹp và những quy luật nhất định, nhưng chúng ta chỉ hiểu lờ mờ về những quy luật này.
[...]
Ông đã cho các cô con gái lời khuyên thế nào là sống có đạo đức. Ông nói: “Hãy bớt vì bản thân đi, và hãy vì người khác nhiều hơn.

Everything should be kept as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Almost all other fellows do not look from the facts to the theory, but from the theory to the facts; they cannot extricate themselves from a once conceptual net, but only flop about in it in a grotesque way.

Chúa không chơi tung xúc sắc với con người - may mắn do chính con người tạo ra

"Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
~Albert Einstein

Human nature always has tried to form for itself a simple and synoptic image of the surrounding world. In doing this it tries to construct a picture which will give some sort of tangible expression to what the human mind sees in nature. That is what the poet does, and the painter, and the speculative philosopher and the natural philosopher, each in his own way.

Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for society, nay, even set up new moral standards to which the life of the community conforms. Without creative personalities able to think and judge independently, the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without the nourishing soil of the community.

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.

Beim Menschen ist es wie beim Velo. Nur wenn er fährt, kann er bequem die Balance halten.

Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.