Albert Einstein: 'We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.'

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

In his famous quote, Albert Einstein presents a thought-provoking insight into the nature of solving problems. He suggests that the thinking that led us to create our challenges in the first place is unlikely to be effective in resolving them. The quote emphasizes the need for a shift in mindset, a departure from conventional thinking, and the adoption of new perspectives to tackle our problems effectively. Einstein's words urge us to recognize the limitations of our current approaches and embrace the willingness to explore different avenues. This quote embodies the essence of innovation and progress – a reminder that real solutions often lie beyond the boundaries of familiar thinking.To truly grasp the significance of the quote, we can delve into the realm of philosophy and explore the concept of paradigm shifts. Often attributed to Thomas Kuhn, a philosopher of science, paradigm shifts refer to major changes in the way we understand our world. They occur when the prevailing model or framework of thinking no longer adequately explains new observations or problems. In such cases, a shift is required to embrace a fresh perspective and a revised understanding. This concept aligns perfectly with Einstein's quote since it reinforces the idea that resolving problems necessitates a departure from the same thinking patterns that gave rise to them.When considering some momentous scientific breakthroughs throughout history, we find profound examples of this necessity for a change in thinking. One such dramatic twist occurred during the Copernican Revolution, when Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the widely accepted Earth-centered model of the universe. His proposition that the planets orbited around the sun, rather than the Earth, encountered significant resistance from the prevailing scientific community. However, by eventually adopting Copernicus' heliocentric model, scientists were able to unravel the complexities of celestial mechanics, leading to extraordinary advancements in our understanding of the universe.Similarly, in everyday life, we can observe the limitations of our thinking when confronted with personal or societal challenges. For instance, let's consider the issue of climate change. Despite mounting evidence pointing to the effects of human actions on our planet, progress in combating climate change has been slow. The quote by Einstein resonates in this context, urging us to explore new paradigms and innovative approaches to finding effective solutions. It highlights the importance of embracing renewable energy, sustainable practices, and heightened awareness of our collective responsibility towards the environment. Only by breaking free from traditional thinking and embracing alternative energy sources can we hope to tackle this pressing global problem.In the realm of personal growth, the quote by Einstein holds significant relevance as well. Often, we find ourselves facing recurring problems or stuck in unproductive patterns of behavior. Yet, we continue to employ the same approaches that have proven ineffective. Whether it is dealing with personal relationships, battling internal struggles, or making important life decisions, Einstein's advice reminds us to consider new perspectives and break free from the constraints of our habitual thinking. By consciously adopting a growth mindset and exploring different approaches, we can pave the way for personal transformation and overcome the challenges that hinder our progress.In conclusion, Albert Einstein's quote serves as a powerful reminder that true problem-solving requires a departure from the very thinking that created those problems. By emphasizing the importance of shifting our mindset and embracing new perspectives, the quote calls for innovation, progress, and personal growth. When faced with challenges, whether on a global or individual scale, it is essential to recognize the limitations of our existing thinking and be open to exploring alternative approaches. Einstein's words inspire us to step out of our comfort zones, challenge convention, and pave the way for transformative solutions that can shape a better future.

Albert Einstein: 'A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.'

Isaac asimov: 'to surrender to ignorance and call it god has always been premature, and it remains premature today.'.

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What It Takes to Think Deeply About Complex Problems

  • Tony Schwartz

we can not solve problems

Three ways to embrace a more nuanced, spacious perspective.

The problems we’re facing often seem as intractable as they do complex. But as Albert Einstein famously observed, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” So what does it take to increase the complexity of our thinking? To cultivate a more nuanced, spacious perspective, start by challenging your convictions. Ask yourself, “What am I not seeing here?” and “What else might be true?” Second, do your most challenging task first every day, when your mind is fresh and before distractions arise. And third, pay attention to how you’re feeling. Embracing complexity means learning to better manage tough emotions like fear and anger.

The problems we’re facing often seem as complex as they do intractable. And as Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” So what does it take to increase the complexity of our thinking?

we can not solve problems

  • Tony Schwartz is the CEO of The Energy Project and the author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working . Become a fan of The Energy Project on Facebook .

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27 Quotes to Change How You Think About Problems Great minds give you the benefit of their experience.

By Daniel Marlin • Apr 21, 2017

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

It happens to even the most seasoned of entrepreneurs. You've built momentum for your latest project, you're excited to embrace new challenges and you've visualized success at the end of the road.

But all of a sudden an unexpected problem stops you dead in your tracks -- and this one seems impossible to solve.

Yes, major hurdles are disheartening, and they're often unavoidable. But the way you engage with and think about problems directly influences your ability to solve them.

Here's how some of the world's smartest people think about problems and how you can learn to overcome them.

Related: 4 Effective Ways Leaders Solve Problems and Stop them Before They Happen

1. "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." – Albert Einstein

2. "Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines." – Robert H. Shuller

3. "All problems become smaller when you confront them instead of dodging them." – William F. Halsey

4. "Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." – James Baldwin

5. "Sometimes problems don't require a solution to solve them; Instead they require maturity to outgrow them." – Steve Maraboli

6. "Every problem is a gift. Without them we wouldn't grow" – Tony Robbins

7. "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced." – Soren Kierkegaard

8. "If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?" – Shantideva

9. "It isn't that they cannot find the solution. It is that they cannot see the problem." – G.K Chesterton

10. "Problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity" – Gerhard Gschwandtner

11. "We fail more often because we solve the wrong problem than because we get the wrong solution to the right problem." – Russell L. Ackoff

12. "A positive attitude may not solve your problems -- but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." – Anonymous

Related: 4 Ways to Maintain a Positive Attitude Even When You're Stressed

13. "Running away from a problem only increases the distance from the solution." – Anonymous

14. "Problem-solving leaders have one thing in common: a faith that there's always a better way." – Gerald M. Weinberg

15. "Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems." – Rene Descartes

16. "Your ability to solve problems and make good decisions is the true measure of your skill as a leader." – Brian Tracy

17. "If you are unable to understand the cause of a problem, it is impossible to solve it." – Naoto Kan

18. "A problem is a chance for you to do your best." – Duke Ellington

19. "Giving up is the most painful way of solving a problem." – Anonymous

20. "Instead of thinking out the box, get rid of the box." – Deepak Chopra

21. "Solving problems means listening." – Richard Branson

22. "Inside of every problem lies an opportunity." – Robert Kiposaki

23. "There is no problem outside of you that is superior to the power within you." – Bob Proctor

24. "You can increase your problem-solving skills by honing your question-asking ability." – Michael J. Gelb

Related: Entrepreneurship Is Not About Problem Solving

25. "Don't bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself." – Colin Powell

26. "If a problem can be solved it will be. If it cannot be solved there is no use worrying about it." – Dalai Lama XIV

27. "All life is problem solving." – Karl Popper

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  • Albert Einstein

we can not solve problems

Albert Einstein ( 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 ) was a German-born theoretical physicist , widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest physicists of all time. Einstein is known for developing the theory of relativity , but he also made important contributions to the development of the theory of quantum mechanics . Together, relativity and quantum mechanics are the two pillars of modern physics . He won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect .

  • 1.3.1 Principles of Research (1918)
  • 1.4.1 Sidelights on Relativity (1922)
  • 1.4.2 Viereck interview (1929)
  • 1.5.1 Wisehart interview (1930)
  • 1.5.2 Religion and Science (1930)
  • 1.5.3 What I Believe (1930)
  • 1.5.4 Mein Weltbild (My World-view) (1931)
  • 1.5.5 My Credo (1932)
  • 1.5.6 (1933)
  • 1.5.7 (1934)
  • 1.5.8 Obituary for Emmy Noether (1935)
  • 1.5.9 Why Do They Hate the Jews (1938)
  • 1.6.1 Science and Religion (1941)
  • 1.6.2 Only Then Shall We Find Courage (1946)
  • 1.6.3 Religion and Science: Irreconcilable? (1948)
  • 1.6.4 "Autobiographical Notes" (1949)
  • 1.6.5 "Einstein's Reply to Criticisms" (1949)
  • 1.6.6 The World As I See It (1949)
  • 1.6.7 Why Socialism? (1949)
  • 1.7.1 On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation (1950)
  • 1.7.2 Out of My Later Years (1950)
  • 1.7.3 Essay to Leo Baeck (1953)
  • 1.7.4 Russell–Einstein Manifesto (1955)
  • 1.8.1 Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1979)
  • 1.8.2 Albert Einstein: A guide for the perplexed (1979)
  • 1.8.3 Einstein and the Poet (1983)
  • 1.8.4 Einstein's God (1997)
  • 1.8.5 Einstein and Religion (1999)
  • 3 Misattributed
  • 4 "Never Share These Five Things with Anyone" misattributions on youtube
  • 5 Quotes about Einstein
  • 7 External links

Quotes [ edit ]

1890s [ edit ].

we can not solve problems

  • A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.
  • From "Mes Projets d'Avenir", a French essay written at age 17 for a school exam (18 September 1896). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein Vol. 1 (1987) Doc. 22.

1900s [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • Blind obedience to authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
  • Letter to Jost Winteler (July 8th, 1901), quoted in The Private Lives of Albert Einstein by Roger Highfields and Paul Carter (1993), p. 79 . Einstein had been annoyed that Paul Drude , editor of Annalen der Physik , had dismissed some criticisms Einstein made of Drude's electron theory of metals.
  • 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...?
  • Opening of a letter to his friend Conrad Habicht in which he describes his four revolutionary Annus Mirabilis papers (18 or 25 May 1905) Doc. 27
  • The equivalence of mass and energy was originally expressed by the equation m = L/c² , which easily translates into the far more well-known E = mc² in Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content? published in the Annalen der Physik (27 September 1905) : "If a body gives off the energy L in the form of radiation, its mass diminishes by L/c²."
  • Atomic Physics (1948) by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, Ltd. ( Voice of A. Einstein. )
  • Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig? ("Does the inertia of a body depend upon its energy content?")
  • Annalen der Physik 18 , 639-641 (1905). Quoted in Concepts of Mass in Classical and Modern Physics by Max Jammer (1961), p. 177
  • Statement of the equivalence principle in Yearbook of Radioactivity and Electronics (1907)

1910s [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • 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. We see him only the way a louse sitting upon him would.
  • Letter to Heinrich Zangger (10 March 1914), quoted in The Curious History of Relativity by Jean Eisenstaedt (2006), p. 126 .
  • Variant: "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." As quoted by Abraham Pais in Subtle is the Lord:The Science and Life of Albert Einstein (1982), p. 235 ISBN 0-192-80672-6
  • In living through this "great epoch," it is difficult to reconcile oneself to the fact that one belongs to that mad, degenerate species that boasts of its free will. How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of good will! In such a place even I should be an ardent patriot!
  • Letter to Paul Ehrenfest , early December 1914. Collected Papers of Albert Einstein , Vol. 8, Doc. 39. Quoted in The New Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2005), p. 3
  • It's convenient with that fellow Einstein, every year he retracts what he wrote the year before.
  • Letter to Paul Ehrenfest, 26 December 1915. Collected Papers of Albert Einstein , Vol. 8, Doc. 173.
  • Obituary for physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach ( Nachruf auf Ernst Mach ), Physikalische Zeitschrift 17 (1916), p. 101
  • Relativity – The Special and General Theory (1916), Part I: The Special Theory of Relativity, Experience and the Special Theory of Relativity
  • Our entire much-praised technological progress, and civilization generally, could be compared to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal.
  • Letter to Heinrich Zangger (1917), as quoted in A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit by Alan Lightman (2005), p. 110 , and in Albert Einstein: A Biography by Albrecht Fölsing (1997), p. 399
  • Sometimes paraphrased as "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
  • (1917) as quoted by Gerald Holton , The Advancement of Science, and Its Burdens: the Jefferson Lecture and Other Essays (1986)
  • I have also considered many scientific plans during my pushing you around in your pram!
  • Letter to his son Hans Albert Einstein (June 1918)
  • Make a lot of walks to get healthy and don't read that much but save yourself some until you're grown up.
  • Letter to his son Eduard Einstein (June 1918)
  • Letter to Eduard Study, 25 Sept. 1918, in the Einstein Archive, Hebrew U., Jerusalem; translation in D. Howard, Perspectives on Science 1 , 225 (1993).
  • Letter to Max Born, 1918, from The Born-Einstein Letters: Friendship, Politics and Physics in Uncertain Times, Macmillan (2005 edition), pg 7.
  • Dear mother! Today a joyful notice. H. A. Lorentz has telegraphed me that the English expeditions have really proven the deflection of light at the sun.
  • Postcard to his mother Pauline Einstein (1919)
  • By an application of the theory of relativity to the taste of readers, today in Germany I am called a German man of science, and in England I am represented as a Swiss Jew. If I come to be represented as a bête noire, the descriptions will be reversed, and I shall become a Swiss Jew for the Germans and a German man of science for the English!
  • " Einstein On His Theory ", The Times (London), 28 November 1919   , quoted in Herman Bernstein: Celebrities of Our Time. New York 1924. p. 267 ( archive.org ). Einstein's original German text in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein . Volume 7. Doc. 25 p. 210, and at germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org after Albert Einstein, Mein Weltbild. Amsterdam: Querido Verlag, 1934, pp. 220-28. Manuscript at alberteinstein.info .

Principles of Research (1918) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • 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 an angel of the Lord to come and 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. I am quite aware that we have just now lightheartedly expelled in imagination many excellent men who are largely, perhaps chiefly, responsible for the buildings of the temple of science; and in many cases, our angel would find it a pretty ticklish job to decide. But of one thing I feel sure: if the types we have just expelled were the only types there were, the temple would never have come to be, any more than a forest can grow which consists of nothing but creepers. For these people any sphere of human activity will do if it comes to a point; whether they become engineers, officers, tradesmen, or scientists depends on circumstances. Now let us have another look at those who have found favor with the angel. Most of them are somewhat odd, uncommunicative, solitary fellows, really less like each other, in spite of these common characteristics, than the hosts of the rejected. What has brought them to the temple? That is a difficult question and no single answer will cover it.
  • The state of mind which enables a man to do work of this kind is akin to that of the religious worshiper or the lover; the daily effort comes from no deliberate intention or program, but straight from the heart.
  • Variant translation: 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. With this negative motive goes a positive one. Man seeks to form for himself, in whatever manner is suitable for him, a simplified and lucid image of the world, and so to overcome the world of experience by striving to replace it to some extent by this image. This is what the painter does, and the poet, the speculative philosopher, the natural scientist, each in his own way. Into this image and its formation, he places the center of gravity of his emotional life, in order to attain the peace and serenity that he cannot find within the narrow confines of swirling personal experience.
  • As quoted in The Professor, the Institute, and DNA (1976) by Rene Dubos; also in The Great Influenza (2004) by John M. Barry
  • But what can be the attraction of getting to know such a tiny section of nature thoroughly, while one leaves everything subtler and more complex shyly and timidly alone? Does the product of such a modest effort deserve to be called by the proud name of a theory of the universe? In my belief the name is justified; for the general laws on which the structure of theoretical physics is based claim to be valid for any natural phenomenon whatsoever. With them, it ought to be possible to arrive at the description, that is to say, the theory, of every natural process, including life, by means of pure deduction, if that process of deduction were not far beyond the capacity of the human intellect. The physicist's renunciation of completeness for his cosmos is therefore not a matter of fundamental principle.
  • Variant, from Preface to Max Planck 's Where is Science Going? (1933): The supreme task of the physicist is the discovery of the most general elementary laws from which the world-picture can be deduced logically. But there is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance, and this Einfühlung [literally, empathy or 'feeling one's way in']' is developed by experience.

1920s [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • How much do I love that noble man More than I could tell with words I fear though he'll remain alone With a holy halo of his own.
  • Poem by Einstein on Spinoza (1920), as quoted in Einstein and Religion by Max Jammer, Princeton UP 1999 , p. 43; original German manuscript: "Zu Spinozas Ethik" .
  • On the irrelevance of the luminiferous aether hypothesis to physical measurements, in an address at the University of Leiden (5 May 1920)
  • Letter to Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith, 3 [5] April 1920, as quoted in Alice Calaprice, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein (2010), p. 195; citing Israelitisches Wochenblatt , 42 September 1920, The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 7, Doc. 37, and Vol. 9, Doc 368.
  • 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.
  • Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie (1920) Tr. Robert W. Lawson, Relativity: The Special and General Theory (1920) pp. 90-91.
  • Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not.
  • Remark made during Einstein's first visit to Princeton University (April 1921) as quoted in Einstein (1973) by R. W. Clark, Ch. 14. "God is slick, but he ain't mean" is a variant translation of this (1946) Unsourced variant: "God is subtle but he is not malicious."
  • Originally said to Princeton University mathematics professor Oscar Veblen, May 1921, while Einstein was in Princeton for a series of lectures, upon hearing that an experimental result by Dayton C. Miller of Cleveland, if true, would contradict his theory of gravitation. But the claimed discrepancy was quite small and required special circumstances (hence Einsteins's remark). The result turned out to be false. Some say by this remark Einstein meant that Nature hides her secrets by being subtle, while others say he meant that nature is mischievous but not bent on trickery. [The Yale Book of Quotations, ed. Fred R. Shapiro, 2006]
  • As quoted in Cherished Illusions (2005) by Sarah Stern, p. 109
  • I have second thoughts. Maybe God is malicious .
  • Said to Valentine Bargmann , as quoted in Einstein in America (1985) by Jamie Sayen, p. 51, indicating that God leads people to believe they understand things that they actually are far from understanding; also in The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), ed. Fred R. Shapiro
  • From the story "The Progress of Science" in The Scientific Monthly edited by J. McKeen Cattell ( June 1921 ), Vol. XII, No. 6. The story says that the comments were made at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences at the National Museum in Washington on April 25, 26, and 27. Einstein's comments appear on p. 579 , though the story may be paraphrasing rather than directly quoting since it says "In reply Professor Einstein in substance said" the quote above.
  • In response to not knowing the speed of sound as included in the Edison Test: New York Times (18 May 1921); Einstein: His Life and Times (1947) Philipp Frank, p. 185; Einstein, A Life (1996) by Denis Brian, p. 129; "Einstein Due Today" (February 2005) edited by József Illy, Manuscript 25-32 of the Einstein Paper Project; all previous sources as per Einstein His Life and Universe (2007) by Walter Isaacson, p. 299
  • Unsourced variants: "I never commit to memory anything that can easily be looked up in a book" and "Never memorize what you can look up in books." (The second version is found in "Recording the Experience" (10 June 2004) at The Library of Congress , but no citation to Einstein's writings is given).
  • In so far as theories of mathematics speak about reality, they are not certain, and in so far as they are certain, they do not speak about reality.
  • Geometrie and Erfahrung (1921) pp. 3-4 link.springer.com as cited by Karl Popper , The Two Fundamental Problems of the Theory of Knowledge (2014) Tr. Andreas Pickel, Ed. Troels Eggers Hansen.
  • Einstein in his Kyoto address (14 December 1922), talking about the events of "probably the 2nd or 3rd weeks" of October 1907, quoted in Why Did Einstein Put So Much Emphasis on the Equivalence Principle? by Dr. Robert J. Heaston in Equivalence Principle – April 2008 (15th NPA Conference) who cites A. Einstein. "How I Constructed the Theory of Relativity," Translated by Masahiro Morikawa from the text recorded in Japanese by Jun Ishiwara, Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS) Bulletin, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 17-19 (April 2005)
  • How I Created the Theory of Relativity , speech at Kyoto University, Japan, December 14, 1922, as cited in Physics Today , August, 1982.
  • Comment made after a six-week trip to Japan in November-December 1922, published in Kaizo 5, no. 1 (January 1923), 339. Einstein Archive 36-477.1. Appears in The New Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2005), p. 269
  • Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the "old one." I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice.
  • Letter to Max Born (4 December 1926); The Born-Einstein Letters (translated by Irene Born) (Walker and Company, New York, 1971) ISBN 0-8027-0326-7 .
  • Einstein himself used variants of this quote at other times. For example, in a 1943 conversation with William Hermanns recorded in Hermanns' book Einstein and the Poet , Einstein said: "As I have said so many times, God doesn't play dice with the world." ( p. 58 )
  • Objecting to the placing of observables at the heart of the new quantum mechanics, during Heisenberg's 1926 lecture at Berlin; related by Heisenberg, quoted in Unification of Fundamental Forces (1990) by Abdus Salam ISBN 0521371406
  • p. 157 London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson
  • Response to atheist Alfred Kerr in the winter of 1927, who after deriding ideas of God and religion at a dinner party in the home of the publisher Samuel Fischer , had queried him "I hear that you are supposed to be deeply religious" as quoted in The Diary of a Cosmopolitan (1971) by H. G. Kessler
  • 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.
  • 24 April 1929 in response to the telegrammed question of New York's Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein: "Do you believe in God? Stop. Answer paid 50 words." Einstein replied in only 27 (German) words. The New York Times 25 April 1929
  • As quoted in Einstein : Science and Religion by Arnold V. Lesikar
  • Said to Samuel J Woolf, Berlin, Summer 1929. Cited with additional notes in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice and Freeman Dyson , Princeton UP (2010) p 230
  • As quoted in [Albert Einstein, Letter "Einstein in Singapore." Manchester Guardian, October 12, 1929]

Sidelights on Relativity (1922) [ edit ]

  • How can it be that mathematics, being, after all, a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality? Is human reason, then, without experience, merely by taking thought, able to fathom the properties of real things?
  • One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.

Viereck interview (1929) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • The meaning of relativity has been widely misunderstood. Philosophers play with the word, like a child with a doll. Relativity, as I see it, merely denotes that certain physical and mechanical facts, which have been regarded as positive and permanent, are relative with regard to certain other facts in the sphere of physics and mechanics. It does not mean that everything in life is relative and that we have the right to turn the whole world mischievously topsy-turvy.
  • No man can visualize four dimensions, except mathematically ... I think in four dimensions, but only abstractly. The human mind can picture these dimensions no more than it can envisage electricity. Nevertheless, they are no less real than electro-magnetism, the force which controls our universe, within, and by which we have our being.
  • Quoted in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2010), p. 230
  • I refuse to make money out of my science. My laurel is not for sale like so many bales of cotton.
  • If I was 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.
  • Reading after a certain age diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking , just as the man who spends too much time in the theater is tempted to be content with living vicariously instead of living his own life.
  • Our time is Gothic in its spirit. Unlike the Renaissance, it is not dominated by a few outstanding personalities. The twentieth century has established the democracy of the intellect. In the republic of art and science, there are many men who take an equally important part in the intellectual movements of our age. It is the epoch rather than the individual that is important. There is no one dominant personality like Galileo or Newton. Even in the nineteenth century, there were still a few giants who outtopped all others. Today the general level is much higher than ever before in the history of the world, but there are few men whose stature immediately sets them apart from all others.
  • In America, more than anywhere else, the individual is lost in the achievements of the many. America is beginning to be the world leader in a scientific investigation. American scholarship is both patient and inspiring. The Americans show an unselfish devotion to science, which is the very opposite of the conventional European view of your countrymen. Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves. It is not true that the dollar is an American fetish. The American student is not interested in dollars, not even in success as such, but in his task, the object of the search. It is his painstaking application to the study of the infinitely little and the infinitely large which accounts for his success in astronomy.
  • We are inclined to overemphasize the material influences in history. The Russians especially make this mistake. Intellectual values and ethnic influences, tradition and emotional factors are equally important. If this were not the case, Europe would today be a federated state, not a madhouse of nationalism.
  • Quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, p. 387
  • I believe with Schopenhauer : We can do what we wish, but we can only wish what we must. Practically, I am, nevertheless, compelled to act as if freedom of the will existed. If I wish to live in a civilized community, I must act as if man is a responsible being. I know that philosophically a murderer is not responsible for his crime; nevertheless, I must protect myself from unpleasant contacts. I may consider him guiltless, but I prefer not to take tea with him.
  • My own career was undoubtedly determined, not by my own will but by various factors over which I have no control—primarily those mysterious glands in which Nature prepares the very essence of life, our internal secretions.
  • Whereas materialistic historians and philosophers neglect psychic realities, Freud is inclined to overstress their importance. I am not a psychologist, but it seems to me fairly evident that physiological factors, especially our endocrines, control our destiny ... I am not able to venture a judgment on so important a phase of modern thought. However, it seems to me that psychoanalysis is not always salutary. It may not always be helpful to delve into the subconscious. The machinery of our legs is controlled by a hundred different muscles. Do you think it would help us to walk if we analyzed our legs and knew exactly which one of the little muscles must be employed in locomotion and the order in which they work? ... I am not prepared to accept all his [Freud's] conclusions, but I consider his work an immensely valuable contribution to the science of human behavior. I think he is even greater as a writer than as a psychologist. Freud's brilliant style is unsurpassed by anyone since Schopenhauer.
  • The only progress I can see is progress in the organization. The ordinary human being does not live long enough to draw any substantial benefit from his own experience. And no one, it seems, can benefit by the experiences of others. Being both a father and teacher, I know we can teach our children nothing. We can transmit to them neither our knowledge of life nor of mathematics. Each must learn its lesson anew.
  • I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am. When two expeditions of scientists, financed by the Royal Academy, went forth to test my theory of relativity, I was convinced that their conclusions would tally with my hypothesis. I was not surprised when the eclipse of May 29, 1919, confirmed my intuitions. I would have been surprised if I had been wrong.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot .
  • As reported in Einstein — A Life (1996) by Denis Brian, when asked about a clipping from a magazine article reporting his comments on Christianity as taken down by Viereck, Einstein carefully read the clipping and replied, " That is what I believe." .
  • When asked by Viereck if he considered himself to be a German or a Jew. A version with slightly different wording is quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (2007), p. 386
  • We Jews have been too adaptable. We have been too eager to sacrifice our idiosyncrasies for the sake of social conformity. ... Even in modern civilization, the Jew is most happy if he remains a Jew.
  • In response to a question about whether religion is the tie holding the Jews together.
  • But to return to the Jewish question. Other groups and nations cultivate their individual traditions. There is no reason why we should sacrifice ours. Standardization robs life of its spice. To deprive every ethnic group of its special traditions is to convert the world into a huge Ford plant. I believe in standardizing automobiles. I do not believe in standardizing human beings. Standardization is a great peril which threatens American culture.
  • I am happy because I want nothing from anyone. I do not care about money. Decorations, titles or distinctions mean nothing to me. I do not crave praise. The only thing that gives me pleasure, apart from my work, my violin, and my sailboat, is the appreciation of my fellow workers.
  • I claim credit for nothing. 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 player.
  • Did not appear in Saturday Evening Post story, but in Glimpses of the Great (1930) by G. S. Viereck. There have been disputes on the accuracy of this quotation.
  • Sometimes misquoted as "I don't think I can call myself a pantheist".
  • Variant, from Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, p. 386: I'm not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written these books. It does not know-how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.
  • Did not appear in the Saturday Evening Post story, but quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, p. 387, in the section discussing Viereck's interview.

1930s [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • Letter to his son Eduard (5 February 1930), as quoted in Walter Isaacson , Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), p. 367
  • Interview with Rabindranath Tagore (14 April 1930), published in The Religion of Man (1930) by Rabindranath Tagore, p. 222, and in The Tagore Reader (1971) edited by Amiya Chakravarty
  • Attributed in The Encarta Book of Quotations to an interview on the Belgenland (December 1930), which was the ship on which he arrived in New York that month. According to The Ultimate Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2010), p. 18 , the quote also appears as "Aphorism, 1945-1946" in the Einstein Archives 36-570. Calaprice speculates that "perhaps it was recalled later and inserted into the archives under the later date." According to a snippet on Google Books, the phrase '"I never think of the future," he said. "It comes soon enough."' appears in The Literary Digest: Volume 107 on p. 29, in an article titled "We May Not 'Get' Relativity, But We Like Einstein" from 27 December 1930 . The snippet also discusses the "welcome to Professor Einstein on the Belgenland " in New York
  • From a letter to Hermann Huth, Vice-President of the German Vegetarian Federation, 27 December 1930. Supposedly published in German magazine Vegetarische Warte , which existed from 1882 to 1935. Einstein Archive 46-756. Quoted in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2011), p. 453 . ISBN 978-0-691-13817-6
  • "Science and Dictatorship," in Dictatorship on Its Trial, by Eminent Leaders of Modern Thought (1930) - later as Dictatorship on Trial (1931), Otto Forst de Battaglia (1889-1965), ed., Huntley Paterson, trans., introduction by Winston Churchill , George G. Harrap & Co., (Reprinted 1977, Beaufort Books Inc., ISBN 0836916077 ISBN 9780836916072 p. 107. [1] [2] [3] [4] Original text of this "nineteen word essay" appears under the German title, "Wissenschaft und Diktatur" in Prozess der Diktatur (1930), Otto Forst de Battaglia (1889-1965), ed., Amalthea-Verlag, p.108. [5]
  • First sentence of " Maxwells Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der Auffassung des Physikalisch-Realen ". Manuscript at the Hebrew University Jerusalem alberteinstein.info
  • The belief in an external world independent of the perceiving subject is the basis of all natural science.
  • From "Maxwell's Influence on the Evolution of the Idea of Physical Reality," 1931. Available in Einstein Archives: 65-382
  • From a letter by Albert Einstein to Professor Chaim Tchernowitz (31 December 1930) of the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York (Hebrew Union College). Jewish Telegraphic Agency (Jewish Daily Bulletin)
  • Speech to students at the California Institute of Technology, in "Einstein Sees Lack in Applying Science" , The New York Times (16 February 1931)
  • Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97; also in Transformation : Arts, Communication, Environment (1950) by Harry Holtzman, p. 138. This may be an edited version of some nearly identical quotes from the 1929 Viereck interview below.
  • Miscellaneous , Cosmic Religion , p. 104 (1931)
  • From Cosmic Religion: with Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931), Albert Einstein, pub. Covici-Friede. Quoted in The Expanded Quotable Einstein , Princeton University Press; 2nd edition (May 30, 2000); Page 208, ISBN 0691070210
  • Einstein's letter to Nikola Tesla for Tesla's 75th birthday (1931)

we can not solve problems

  • In answer to a question asked by the editors of Youth , a journal of Young Israel of Williamsburg, NY. Quoted in the New York Times , June 20, 1932, pg. 17
  • Unsourced variant: Only a life in the service of others is worth living.
  • from On the Method of Theoretical Physics , p. 183. The Herbert Spencer Lecture, delivered at Oxford (10 June 1933). Quoted in Einstein's Philosophy of Science
  • "On the Method of Theoretical Physics" The Herbert Spencer Lecture, delivered at Oxford (10 June 1933); also published in Philosophy of Science , Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1934), pp. 163-169., p. 165. [thanks to Dr. Techie @ www.wordorigins.org and JSTOR]
  • There is a quote attributed to Einstein that may have arisen as a paraphrase of the above quote, commonly given as " Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler, " "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler", or "Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler." See this article from the Quote Investigator for a discussion of where these later variants may have arisen.
  • The original quote is very similar to Occam's razor , which advocates that among all hypotheses compatible with all available observations, the simplest hypothesis is the most plausible one.
  • The aphorism "everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler" is normally taken to be a warning against too much simplicity and emphasizes that one cannot simplify things to a point where the hypothesis is no more compatible with all observations. The aphorism does not contradict or extend Occam's razor, but rather stresses that both elements of the razor, simplicity and compatibility with the observations, are essential.
  • The earliest known appearance of Einstein's razor is an essay by Roger Sessions in the New York Times (8 January 1950) [6] , where Sessions appears to be paraphrasing Einstein: "I also remember a remark of Albert Einstein, which certainly applies to music. He said, in effect, that everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler."
  • Another early appearance, from Time magazine (14 December 1962) [7] : "We try to keep in mind a saying attributed to Einstein—that everything must be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler."
  • The World As I See It , Einstein, Citadel Press (reprint 2006; originally published in 1934), p. 5
  • As quoted in "Atom Energy Hope is Spiked By Einstein / Efforts at Loosing Vast Force is Called Fruitless," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (29 December 1934); it was only after the breakthroughs by Enrico Fermi and others in producing nuclear chain reactions that the use of nuclear power became plausible.
  • "Notes on the Origin of the General Theory of Relativity" (1934) Mein Weltbild , in Ideas and Opinions (1954) ed., Carl Seelig .
  • Response to being shown a "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" column with the headline "Greatest Living Mathematician Failed in Mathematics" in 1935. Quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (2007), p. 16
  • "Physics and Reality" in the Journal of the Franklin Institute Vol. 221, Issue 3 (March 1936)
  • Variant translation: "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking." As it appears in the "Physics and Reality" section of the book "Out of My Later Years" by Albert Einstein (1950)
  • "Physics and Reality" in the Journal of the Franklin Institute Vol. 221, Issue 3 (March 1936), Pages 349-382

we can not solve problems

  • From the article "Physics and Reality" (March 1936), reprinted in Out of My Later Years (1956). The quotation marks may just indicate that he wants to present this as a new aphorism, but it could possibly indicate that he is paraphrasing or quoting someone else — perhaps Immanuel Kant , since in the next sentence he says "It is one of the great realizations of Immanuel Kant that the setting up of a real external world would be senseless without this comprehensibility." Other variants:
  • In the endnotes to Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, note 46 on p. 628 says that "Gerald Holton says that this is more properly translated" as the variant above, citing Holton's essay "What Precisely is Thinking?" on p. 161 of Einstein: A Centenary Volume edited by Anthony Philip French.
  • This version was given in Einstein: A Biography (1954) by Antonina Vallentin, p. 24, and widely quoted afterwards. Vallentin cites "Physics and Reality" in Journal of the Franklin Institute (March 1936), and is possibly giving a variant translation as with Holton.
  • As quoted in Speaking of Science (2000) by Michael Fripp
  • As quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, p. 462 . In the original essay "The fact that it is comprehensible is a miracle" appears at the end of the paragraph that follows the paragraph in which "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility" appears.
  • Letter to Phyllis Wright (January 24, 1936), published in Dear Professor Einstein: Albert Einstein's Letters to and from Children (Prometheus Books, 2002), p. 129
  • "Moral Decay" (1937); Later published in Out of My Later Years (1950)
  • The Evolution of Physics (1938) (co-written with Leopold Infeld )
  • Letter to Queen Mother Elisabeth of Belgium (9 January 1939), asking for her help in getting an elderly cousin of his out of Germany and into Belgium. Quoted in Einstein on Peace edited by Otto Nathan and Heinz Norden (1960), p. 282
  • Speech made in honor of Thomas Mann in January 1939, when Mann was given the Einstein Prize by the Jewish Forum. Quoted in Einstein Lived Here by Abraham Pais (1994), p. 214
  • Statement on the occasion of Gandhi's 70th birthday (1939) Einstein archive 32-601, published in Out of My Later Years (1950).
  • Variant: Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.
  • Letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (August 2, 1939, delivered October 11, 1939); reported in Einstein on Peace , ed. Otto Nathan and Heinz Norden (1960, reprinted 1981), pp. 294–95

Wisehart interview (1930) [ edit ]

  • Every man knows that in his work he does best and accomplishes most when he has attained a proficiency that enables him to work intuitively. That is, there are things which we come to know so well that we do not know how we know them. So it seems to me in matters of principle. Perhaps we live best and do things best when we are not too conscious of how and why we do them.
  • I do not believe in a God who maliciously or arbitrarily interferes in the personal affairs of mankind. My religion consists of a humble admiration for the vast power which manifests itself in that small part of the universe which our poor, weak minds can grasp!
  • Much reading after a certain age diverts the mind from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking, just as the man who spends too much time in the theaters is apt to be content with living vicariously instead of living his own life.
  • I have only two rules which I regard as principles of conduct. The first is: Have no rules. The second is: Be independent of the opinion of others.

Religion and Science (1930) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • Wording in Ideas and Opinions : 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.
  • Wording in Ideas and Opinions : The desire for guidance, love, and support prompts men to form the social or moral conception of God. This is the God of Providence, who protects, disposes, rewards, and punishes; the God who, according to the limits of the believer's outlook, loves and cherishes the life of the tribe or of the human race, or even life itself; the comforter in sorrow and unsatisfied longing; he who preserves the souls of the dead. This is the social or moral conception of God.
  • Wording in Ideas and Opinions : The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from the religion of fear to moral religion, a development continued in the New Testament. The religions of all civilized peoples, especially the peoples of the Orient, are primarily moral religions. The development from a religion of fear to moral religion is a great step in peoples' lives. And yet, that primitive religions are based entirely on fear and the religions of civilized peoples purely on morality is a prejudice against which we must be on our guard. The truth is that all religions are a varying blend of both types, with this differentiation: that on the higher levels of social life the religion of morality predominates.
  • Wording in Ideas and Opinions : 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. The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man's image; so that there can be no church whose central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely among the heretics of every age that we find men who were filled with this highest kind of religious feeling and were in many cases regarded by their contemporaries as atheists, sometimes also as saints. Looked at in this light, men like Democritus, Francis of Assisi, and Spinoza are closely akin to one another.
  • Wording in Ideas and Opinions : 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.
  • Wording in Ideas and Opinions : The man who is thoroughly convinced of the universal operation of the law of causation cannot for a moment entertain the idea of a being who interferes in the course of events — provided, of course, that he takes the hypothesis of causality really seriously. He has no use for the religion of fear and equally little for social or moral religion. A God who rewards and punishes is inconceivable to him for the simple reason that a man's actions are determined by necessity, external and internal, so that in God's eyes he cannot be responsible, any more than an inanimate object is responsible for the motions it undergoes. Science has therefore 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 hopes of reward after death.
  • Wording in Ideas and Opinions : It is therefore easy to see why the churches have always fought science and persecuted its devotees. On the other hand, I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research. Only those who realize the immense efforts and, above all, the devotion without which pioneer work in theoretical science cannot be achieved are able to grasp the strength of the emotion out of which alone such work, remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can issue. What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe and what a yearning to understand, were it but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world, Kepler and Newton must have had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics! Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the mentality of the men who, surrounded by a skeptical world, have shown the way to kindred spirits scattered wide through the world and through the centuries. Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men and given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite of countless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength. A contemporary has said, not unjustly, that in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.

What I Believe (1930) [ edit ]

( full text )

  • I do not believe we can have any freedom at all in the philosophical sense, for we act not only under external compulsion but also by inner necessity. Schopenhauer ’s saying – “A man can surely do what he wills to do, but he cannot determine what he wills” – impressed itself upon me in youth and has always consoled me when I have witnessed or suffered life’s hardships. This conviction is a perpetual breeder of tolerance , for it does not allow us to take ourselves or others too seriously; it makes rather for a sense of humor.
  • To ponder interminably over the reason for one’s own existence or the meaning of life in general seems to me, from an objective point of view, to be sheer folly.
  • To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.
  • Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury – to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.
  • 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 political ideal is democracy. Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.
  • Those who are led should not be driven, and they should be allowed to choose their leader.
  • I am convinced that degeneracy follows every autocratic system of violence, for violence inevitably attracts moral inferiors.
  • Time has proved that illustrious tyrants are succeeded by scoundrels.
  • The man who enjoys marching in line and file to the strains of music falls below my contempt; he received his great brain by mistake – the spinal cord would have been amply sufficient.
  • Heroism at command, this senseless violence, this accursed bombast of patriotism – how intensely I despise them! War is low and despicable, and I had rather be smitten to shreds than participate in such doings.

Mein Weltbild (My World-view) (1931) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • 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 sometimes thinks he senses it. 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. A hundred times 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... .
  • I am strongly drawn to the simple life and am often oppressed by the feeling that I am engrossing an unnecessary amount of the labour of my fellow-men. I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on force. I also consider that plain living is good for everybody, physically and mentally.
  • In human freedom in the philosophical sense I am definitely a disbeliever. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauer 's saying, that " a man can do as he will, but not will as he will ," has been an inspiration to me since my youth up, and a continual consolation and unfailing well-spring of patience in the face of the hardships of life, my own and others'. This feeling mercifully mitigates the sense of responsibility which so easily becomes paralyzing, and it prevents us from taking ourselves and other people too seriously; it conduces to a view of life in which humor, above all, has its due place.
  • Variant translation: I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves — such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Without the sense of fellowship with men of like mind, of preoccupation with the objective, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific research, life would have seemed to me empty. The ordinary objects of human endeavor — property, outward success, luxury — have always seemed to me contemptible.
  • Variant translation: 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...

we can not solve problems

  • Variant translations: The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms — 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.
  • The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man. To know that what is impenetrable for us really exists and manifests itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, whose gross forms alone are intelligible to our poor faculties — this knowledge, this feeling ... that is the core of the true religious sentiment. In this sense, and in this sense alone, I rank myself among profoundly religious men.
  • As quoted in After Einstein : Proceedings of the Einstein Centennial Celebration (1981) by Peter Barker and Cecil G. Shugart, p. 179
  • As quoted in Introduction to Philosophy (1935) by George Thomas White Patrick and Frank Miller Chapman, p. 44
  • The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle . To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man."
  • He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

we can not solve problems

  • As quoted in European Civilization and Politics Since 1815 (1938) by Erik Achorn, p. 723. amd in his obituary in The New York Times (19 April 1955)
  • As quoted in The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations: Cutting Comments on Burning Issues (1992) by Charles Bufe, p. 186
  • Variant translations:
  • I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence — as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.
  • Enough for me the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvellous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it never so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.
  • 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 men who genuinely thirst for truth and justice. Numerous are the wares that nature produces by the dozen, but her choice products are few.

My Credo (1932) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • 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. In our daily lives we only feel 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. I am often worried at 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.
  • Variant translation:
  • I 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.
  • 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. I 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. Privileges 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. Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice keeps me from feeling isolated.
  • The 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 all serious endeavor 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 mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, 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 that there is.

(1933) [ edit ]

  • According to my conviction it cannot be doubted that the severe economic depression is to be traced back for the most part to internal economic causes; the improvement in the apparatus of production through technical invention and organization has decreased the need for human labor, and thereby caused the elimination of a part of labor from the economic circuit, and thereby caused a progressive decrease in the purchasing power of the consumers. - as quoted in Robert Shiller's 2020 lecture at Princeton [1]

(1934) [ edit ]

  • Albert Einstein (2009) [1934]. "On the Method of Theoretical Physics". Einstein's essays in science. Translated by Alan Harris. Dover. pp. 12–21. ISBN 9780486470115 .

Obituary for Emmy Noether (1935) [ edit ]

  • The efforts of most human-beings are consumed in the struggle for their daily bread, but most of those who are, either through fortune or some special gift, relieved of this struggle are largely absorbed in further improving their worldly lot. Beneath the effort directed toward the accumulation of worldly goods lies all too frequently the illusion that this is the most substantial and desirable end to be achieved; but there is, fortunately, a minority composed of those who recognize early in their lives that the most beautiful and satisfying experiences open to humankind are not derived from the outside, but are bound up with the development of the individual's own feeling, thinking and acting. The genuine artists, investigators and thinkers have always been persons of this kind. However inconspicuously the life of these individuals runs its course, none the less the fruits of their endeavors are the most valuable contributions which one generation can make to its successors.
  • In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fräulein Noether was the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began.
  • Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. One seeks the most general ideas of operation which will bring together in simple, logical and unified form the largest possible circle of formal relationships. In this effort toward logical beauty spiritual formulas are discovered necessary for the deeper penetration into the laws of nature.

Why Do They Hate the Jews (1938) [ edit ]

  • affirmed on page 213 of The Ultimate Quotable Einstein
  • affirmed on page 70 of Einstein from 'B' to 'Z' by John Stachel in 2001

1940s [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • Letter to Morris Raphael Cohen, professor emeritus of philosophy at the College of the City of New York, defending the appointment of Bertrand Russell to a teaching position (19 March 1940).
  • Variant: Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thoughts in clear form.
  • "The Fundamentals of Theoretical Physics," (1940) as quoted in Out of My Later Years (1976)
  • "The Common Language of Science", a broadcast for Science, Conference, London, 28 September 1941. Published in Advancement of Science , London, Vol. 2, No. 5. Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions (1954), the quote appearing on this page .
  • In a letter to Otto Juliusburger, September 29, 1942. Available in Einstein Archives 38-238
  • Letter to high school student Barbara Lee Wilson (7 January 1943), Einstein Archives 42-606
  • As quoted in The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist, p. 146 , (2003) by Fred Jerome
  • As quoted in New York Times article "The Einstein Theory of Living; At 65 he leads the simplest of lives — and grapples with the most complex thoughts." (12 March 1944)
  • As quoted in The Dark Side of Shakespeare : An Elizabethan Courtier, Diplomat, Spymaster, & Epic Hero , p. 126 (2003) by W. Ron Hess
  • As quoted in "The culture of Einstein" at MSNBC (18 March 2005)
  • Letter to Robert A. Thorton, Physics Professor at University of Puerto Rico (7 December 1944) [EA-674, Einstein Archive, Hebrew University, Jerusalem]. Thorton had written to Einstein on persuading colleagues of the importance of philosophy of science to scientists (empiricists) and science .
  • Answer to a survey written by the French mathematician Jaques Hadamard, from Hadamard's An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field (1945). Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions (1954). His full set of answers to the questions can be read on p. 3 here .
  • 'Essays in Science (1934) p. 11. Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions On Scientific Truth (1954) p. 261, Crown Publishers, Inc. New York, New York, USA, 1954, ISBN 0679601058 .
  • Letter to Guy H. Raner Jr. (2 July 1945), responding to a rumor that a Jesuit priest had caused Einstein to convert to Christianity, quoted in an article by Michael R. Gilmore in Skeptic magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1997)
  • Statement on the Atomic Bomb to Raymond Swing, before 1 October 1945, as reported in Atlantic Monthly , vol. 176, no. 5 (November 1945), in Einstein on Politics , p. 373
  • Einstein when asked "Dr. Einstein, why is it that when the mind of man has stretched so far as to discover the structure of the atom we have been unable to devise the political means to keep the atom from destroying us?" a conferee at a meeting at Princeton, N.J. (Jan 1946), as recalled by Greenville Clark in "Letters to the Times" in New York Times (22 Apr 1955), 24
  • The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.
  • a Columbia Dictionary of Familiar Quotations (1997), 340. Variations exist due to different translations from the original German.
  • "Only Then Shall We Find Courage", New York Times Magazine (23 June 1946).
  • Einstein discussing the letter he sent Roosevelt raising the possibility of atomic weapons. from "Atom: Einstein, the Man Who Started It All," Newsweek Magazine (10 March 1947).
  • Letter to his cousin Richard Einstein (October 1947)
  • The Real Problem Is in the Hearts of Men , The New York Times Magazine ( June 23, 1946 )
  • From "Atomic Education Urged by Einstein" , New York Times (25 May 1946), and later quoted in the article "The Real Problem is in the Hearts of Man" by Michael Amrine, from the New York Times Magazine (23 June 1946). A slightly modified version of the 23 June article was reprinted in Einstein on Peace by Otto Nathan and Heinz Norden (1960), and it was also reprinted in Einstein on Politics by David E. Rowe and Robert Schulmann (2007), p. 383.
  • In The New Quotable Einstein (2005), editor Alice Calaprice suggests that two quotes attributed to Einstein which she could not find sources for, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them" and "The world we have created today as a result of our thinking thus far has problems which cannot be solved by thinking the way we thought when we created them," may both be paraphrases of the 1946 quote above. A similar unsourced variant is "The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking."
  • In the 23 June article Einstein expanded somewhat on the original quote from the 25 May article: Many persons have inquired concerning a recent message of mine that "a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move to higher levels." Often in evolutionary processes a species must adapt to new conditions in order to survive. Today the atomic bomb has altered profoundly the nature of the world as we knew it, and the human race consequently finds itself in a new habitat to which it must adapt its thinking. In the light of new knowledge, a world authority and an eventual world state are not just desirable in the name of brotherhood, they are necessary for survival. In previous ages a nation's life and culture could be protected to some extent by the growth of armies in national competition. Today we must abandon competition and secure cooperation. This must be the central fact in all our considerations of international affairs; otherwise we face certain disaster. Past thinking and methods did not prevent world wars. Future thinking must prevent wars.
  • On the Modulor . Letter sent to Le Corbusier (1946); quoted in Modulor (1953)
  • Cited as conversation between Einstein and János Plesch in János : The Story of a Doctor (1947), by János Plesch, translated by Edward FitzGerald
  • On the Christian maxim "Love thy enemy", in a letter to Michele Besso (6 January 1948)
  • "What must be an essential feature of any future fundamental physics?" Letter to Max Born (March 1948); published in Albert Einstein-Hedwig und Max Born (1969) "Briefwechsel 1916-55", and in Potentiality, Entanglement and Passion-at-a-Distance: Quantum Mechanical Studies for Abner Shimony, Volume Two edited by Robert Cohen, Michael Horn, and John Stachel (1997), p. 121
  • As quoted in the essay "To Albert Einstein's Seventieth Birthday" by Arnold Sommerfeld , Albert Einstein : Philosopher-Scientist (1949) edited by Paul A. Schilpp (p. 102). The essay, originally published as "Zum Siebzigsten Geburtstag Albert Einsteins" in Deutsche Beiträge (Eine Zweimonatsschrift) Vol. III, No 2, 1949, was translated specifically for the book by Schilpp.
  • Interview with Alfred Werner, Liberal Judaism 16 (April-May 1949), Einstein Archive 30-1104, as sourced in The New Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2005), p. 173
Joe Laitin reports that reporters at Bikini were questioning an army lieutenant about what weapons would be used in the next war. "I dunno," he said, "but in the war after the next war, sure as Hell, they'll be using spears!"
  • Letter to Dr. H. L. Gordon (May 3, 1949 - AEA 58-217) as quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) by Walter Isaacson ISBN 9780743264730
  • Albert Einstein , as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist (1949) edited by Paul A. Schilpp
  • Letter to Guy H. Raner Jr. (28 September 1949), from article by Michael R. Gilmore in Skeptic magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1997)
  • Contribution in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist , p. A. Schilpp, ed. (The Library of Living Philosophers, Evanston, IL (1949), p. 684). Quoted in Einstein's Philosophy of Science

Science and Religion (1941) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • It would not be difficult to come to an agreement as to what we understand by science. Science is the century-old endeavor to bring together by means of systematic thought the perceptible phenomena of this world into as thoroughgoing an association as possible. To put it boldly, it is the attempt at the posterior reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualization. But when asking myself what religion is I cannot think of the answer so easily. And even after finding an answer which may satisfy me at this particular moment, I still remain convinced that I can never under any circumstances bring together, even to a slight extent, the thoughts of all those who have given this question serious consideration.
  • A person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings, and aspirations to which he clings because of their superpersonal value. It seems to me that what is important is the force of this superpersonal content and the depth of the conviction concerning its overpowering meaningfulness, regardless of whether any attempt is made to unite this content with a divine Being, for otherwise it would not be possible to count Buddha and Spinoza as religious personalities. Accordingly, a religious person is devout in the sense that he has no doubt of the significance and loftiness of those superpersonal objects and goals which neither require nor are capable of rational foundation. They exist with the same necessity and matter-of-factness as he himself. In this sense religion is the age-old endeavor of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious of these values and goals and constantly to strengthen and extend their effect. If one conceives of religion and science according to these definitions then a conflict between them appears impossible. For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary.
  • A conflict arises when a religious community insists on the absolute truthfulness of all statements recorded in the Bible. This means an intervention on the part of religion into the sphere of science; this is where the struggle of the Church against the doctrines of Galileo and Darwin belongs. On the other hand, representatives of science have often made an attempt to arrive at fundamental judgments with respect to values and ends on the basis of scientific method, and in this way have set themselves in opposition to religion. These conflicts have all sprung from fatal errors.
  • Even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, nevertheless there exist between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies. Though religion may be that which determines the goal, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up. 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. Though I have asserted above that in truth a legitimate conflict between religion and science cannot exist, I must nevertheless qualify this assertion once again on an essential point, with reference to the actual content of historical religions. This qualification has to do with the concept of God. 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? The main source of the present-day conflicts between the spheres of religion and of science lies in this concept of a personal God.
  • When the number of factors coming into play in a phenomenological complex is too large, scientific method in most cases fails us. One need only think of the weather, in which case prediction even for a few days ahead is impossible. Nevertheless no one doubts that we are confronted with a causal connection whose causal components are in the main known to us. Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.
  • The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for causes of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine will exists as an independent cause of natural events. To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense, by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific knowledge has not yet been able to set foot. But I am persuaded that such behavior on the part of the representatives of religion would not only be unworthy but also fatal. For a doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress. In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself. This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an incomparably more worthy task.
  • If it is one of the goals of religion to liberate mankind as far as possible from the bondage of egocentric cravings, desires, and fears, scientific reasoning can aid religion in yet another sense. Although it is true that it is the goal of science to discover rules which permit the association and foretelling of facts, this is not its only aim. It also seeks to reduce the connections discovered to the smallest possible number of mutually independent conceptual elements. It is in this striving after the rational unification of the manifold that it encounters its greatest successes, even though it is precisely this attempt which causes it to run the greatest risk of falling a prey to illusions. But whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful advances made in this domain is moved by profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence. By way of the understanding he achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man. This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious, in the highest sense of the word. And so it seems to me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life. The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.

Only Then Shall We Find Courage (1946) [ edit ]

  • Remark to scientist Herman Francis Mark

Religion and Science: Irreconcilable? (1948) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • Does there truly exist an insuperable contradiction between religion and science? Can religion be superseded by science? The answers to these questions have, for centuries, given rise to considerable dispute and, indeed, bitter fighting. Yet, in my own mind there can be no doubt that in both cases a dispassionate consideration can only lead to a negative answer. What complicates the solution, however, is the fact that while most people readily agree on what is meant by "science," they are likely to differ on the meaning of "religion."
  • Science, in the immediate, produces knowledge and, indirectly, means of action. It leads to methodical action if definite goals are set up in advance. For the function of setting up goals and passing statements of value transcends its domain. While it is true that science, to the extent of its grasp of causative connections, may reach important conclusions as to the compatibility and incompatibility of goals and evaluations, the independent and fundamental definitions regarding goals and values remain beyond science's reach. As regards religion, on the other hand, one is generally agreed that it deals with goals and evaluations and, in general, with the emotional foundation of human thinking and acting, as far as these are not predetermined by the inalterable hereditary disposition of the human species. Religion is concerned with man's attitude toward nature at large, with the establishing of ideals for the individual and communal life, and with mutual human relationship. These ideals religion attempts to attain by exerting an educational influence on tradition and through the development and promulgation of certain easily accessible thoughts and narratives (epics and myths) which are apt to influence evaluation and action along the lines of the accepted ideals.
  • It is this mythical, or rather this 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. Thus, it is of vital importance for the preservation of true religion that such conflicts be avoided when they arise from subjects which, in fact, are not really essential for the pursuance of the religious aims.
  • The moral attitudes of a people that is supported by religion need always aim at preserving and promoting the sanity and vitality of the community and its individuals, since otherwise this community is bound to perish. A people that were to honor falsehood, defamation, fraud, and murder would be unable, indeed, to subsist for very long.
  • The great moral teachers of humanity were, in a way, artistic geniuses in the art of living.
  • 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. There are pessimists who hold that such a state of affairs is necessarily inherent in human nature; it is those who propound such views that are the enemies of true religion, for they imply thereby that religious teachings are Utopian ideals and unsuited to afford guidance in human affairs. The study of the social patterns in certain so-called primitive cultures, however, seems to have made it sufficiently evident that such a defeatist view is wholly unwarranted.
  • While it is true that scientific results are entirely independent from religious or moral considerations, those individuals to whom we owe the great creative achievements of science were all of them imbued with the truly religious conviction that this universe of ours is something perfect and susceptible to the rational striving for knowledge. 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.

"Autobiographical Notes" (1949) [ edit ]

  • Even when I was a fairly precocious young man the nothingness of the hopes and strivings which chases most men restlessly through life came to my consciousness with considerable vitality. Moreover, I soon discovered the cruelty of that chase, which in those years was much more carefully covered up by hypocrisy and glittering words than is the case today. By the mere existence of his stomach everyone was condemned to participate in that chase. Moreover, it was possible to satisfy the stomach by such participation, but not man in so far as he is a thinking and feeling being. As the first way out there was religion, which is implanted into every child by way of the traditional education-machine. Thus I came—despite the fact that I was the son of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents—to a deep religiosity, which, however, found an abrupt ending at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression. Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude towards the convictions which were alive in any specific social environment—an attitude which has never again left me , even though later on, because of a better insight into the causal connections, it lost some of its original poignancy.
  • It is quite clear to me that the religious paradise of youth, which was thus lost, was a first attempt to free myself from the chains of the "merely-personal," from an existence which is dominated by wishes, hopes and primitive feelings. Out yonder there was 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. The contemplation of this world beckoned like a liberation, and I soon noticed that many a man whom I had learned to esteem and to admire had found inner freedom and security in devoted occupation with it. The mental grasp of this extrapersonal world within the frame of the given possibilites swam as highest aim half consciously and half unconsciously before my mind's eye. Similarly motivated men of the present and of the past, as well as the insights which they had achieved, were the friends which could not be lost. The road to this paradise was not as comfortable and alluring as the road to the religious paradise; but it has proved itself as trustworthy, and I have never regretted having chosen it.
  • For me it is not dubious that our thinking goes on for the most part without use of signs (words) and beyond that to a considerable degree unconsciously. For how, otherwise, should it happen that sometimes we "wonder" quite spontaneously about some experience? This "wondering" seems to occur when an experience comes into conflict with a world of concepts which is already sufficiently fixed in us. Whenever such a conflict is experienced hard and intensively it reacts back upon our thought world in a decisive way. The development of this thought world is in a certain sense a continuous flight from "wonder."
  • A wonder of such nature I experienced as a child of 4 or 5 years, when my father showed me a compass. That this needle behaved in such a determined way did not at all fit into the nature of events, which could find a place in the unconscious world of concepts (effect connected with direct "touch"). I can still remember—or at least believe I can remember—that this experience made a deep and lasting impression upon me. Something deeply hidden had to be behind things. What man sees before him from infancy causes no reaction of this kind; he is not surprised over the falling of bodies, concerning wind and rain, nor concerning the moon or about the fact that the moon does not fall down, nor concerning the differences between living and non-living matter. At the age of 12 I experienced a second wonder of a totally different nature: in a little book dealing with Euclidean plane geometry, which came into my hands at the beginning of a schoolyear. Here were assertions, as for example the intersection of the three altitudes of a triangle in one point, which—though by no means evident—could nevertheless be proved with such certainty that any doubt appeared to be out of the question. This lucidity and certainty made an indescribable impression upon me. That the axioms had to be accepted unproved did not disturb me. In any case it was quite sufficient for me if I could peg proofs upon propositions the validity of which did not seem to me to be dubious.
  • One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect [upon me] that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.
  • 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 wreck and ruin without fail. 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.
  • A theory is the more impressive, the greater the simplicity of its premises, the more diverse things it connects, and the wider its scope
  • Reflections of this type made it clear to me as long ago as shortly after 1900, i.e., shortly after Planck's trailblazing work, that neither mechanics nor electrodynamics could (except in limiting cases) claim exact validity. By and by I despaired of the possibility of discovering the true laws by means of constructive efforts based on known facts. The longer and the more despairingly I tried, the more I came to the conviction that only the discovery of a universal formal principle could lead us to assured results. . . . How, then, could such a universal principle be found? After ten years of reflection such a principle resulted from a paradox upon which I had already hit at the age of sixteen: If I pursue a beam of light with the velocity c (velocity of light in a vacuum), I should observe such a beam as a spatially oscillatory electromagnetic field at rest. However, there seems to be no such thing, whether on the bases of experience or according to Maxwell's equations. From the very beginning it appeared to me intuitively clear that, judged from the stand-point of such an observer, everything would have to happen according to the same laws as for an observer who, relative to the earth, was at rest.

"Einstein's Reply to Criticisms" (1949) [ edit ]

  • I now imagine a quantum theoretician who may even admit that the quantum-theoretical description refers to ensembles of systems and not to individual systems, but who, nevertheless, clings to the idea that the type of description of the statistical quantum theory will, in its essential features, be retained in the future. He may argue as follows: True, I admit that the quantum-theoretical description is an incomplete description of the individual system. I even admit that a complete theoretical description is, in principle, thinkable. But I consider it proven that the search for such a complete description would be aimless. For the lawfulness of nature is thus constituted that the laws can be completely and suitably formulated within the framework of our incomplete description. To this I can only reply as follows: Your point of view — taken as theoretical possibility — is incontestable. For me, however, the expectation that the adequate formulation of the universal laws involves the use of all conceptual elements which are necessary for a complete description, is more natural. It is furthermore not at all surprising that, by using an incomplete description, (in the main) only statistical statements can be obtained out of such description. If it should be possible to move forward to a complete description, it is likely that the laws would represent relations among all the conceptual elements of this description which, per se , have nothing to do with statistics.

The World As I See It (1949) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

The Meaning of Life

  • What is the meaning of human life , or of organic life altogether? To answer this question at all implies a religion. Is there any sense then, you ask, in putting it? I answer, the man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.
  • This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of the herd nature, the military system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big brain by mistake; a backbone was all he needed. This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism by order, senseless violence, and all the pestilent nonsense that does by the name of patriotism--how I hate them! War seems to me a mean, contemptible thing: I would rather be hacked in pieces than take part in such an abominable business.
  • And yet... 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.

Good and Evil

  • The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained to liberation from the self.

Society and Personality

  • When we survey our lives and endeavors we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires are bound up with the existence of other human beings. We see that our whole nature resembles that of the social animals. We eat food that others have grown, wear clothes that others have made, live in houses that others have built. The greater part of our knowledge and beliefs has been communicated to us by other people through the medium of a language which others have created. Without language our mental capacities would be poor indeed, comparable to those of the higher animals; we have, therefore, to admit that we owe our principal advantage over the beasts to the fact of living in human society. The individual, if left alone from birth would remain primitive and beast-like in his thoughts and feelings to a degree that we can hardly conceive. The individual is what he is and has the significance that he has not so much in virtue of his individuality, but rather as a member of a great human society, which directs his material and spiritual existence from the cradle to the grave.

we can not solve problems

  • 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. We call him good or bad according to how he stands in this matter. It looks at first sight as if our estimate of a man depended entirely on his social qualities. And yet such an attitude would be wrong. 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. 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, independently thinking and judging personalities the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without the nourishing soil of the community. The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion.
  • 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 ?

Religion in Science

  • You will hardly find one among the profounder sort of scientific minds without a peculiar religious feeling of his own. But it is different from the religion of the naive man. For the latter God is a being from whose care one hopes to benefit and whose punishment one fears; a sublimation of a feeling similar to that of a child for its father, a being to whom one stands to some extent in a personal relation, however deeply it may be tinged with awe. 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.

Greeting to G. Bernard Shaw

  • There are few enough people with sufficient independence to see the weaknesses and follies of their contemporaries and remain themselves untouched by them. And these isolated few usually soon lose their zeal for putting things to rights when they have come face to face with human obduracy. Only to a tiny minority is it given to fascinate their generation by subtle humour and grace and to hold the mirror up to it by the impersonal agency of art. To-day I salute with sincere emotion the supreme master of this method, who has delighted — and educated — us all.

Some Notes on my American Impressions

  • The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in the United States is closely connected with this.
  • The cult of individual personalities is always, in my view, unjustified. To be sure, nature distributes her gifts variously among her children. But there are plenty of the well-endowed ones too, thank God, and I am firmly convinced that most of them live quiet, unregarded lives. It strikes me as unfair, and even in bad taste, to select a few of them for boundless admiration, attributing superhuman powers of mind and character to them. This has been my fate, and the contrast between the popular estimate of my powers and achievements and the reality is simply grotesque. The consciousness of this extraordinary state of affairs would be unbearable but for one great consoling thought: it is a welcome symptom in an age which is commonly denounced as materialistic, that it makes heroes of men whose ambitions lie wholly in the intellectual and moral sphere. This proves that knowledge and justice are ranked above wealth and power by a large section of the human race. My experience teaches me that this idealistic outlook is particularly prevalent in America, which is usually decried as a particularly materialistic country.
  • The United States is the most powerful technically advanced country in the world to-day. Its influence on the shaping of international relations is absolutely incalculable. But 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 the essential interests of the Americans. 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.

Letter to a Friend of Peace

  • Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts

Production and Work

  • Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.

we can not solve problems

Christianity and Judaism

  • If one purges the Judaism of the Prophets and Christianity as Jesus Christ taught it of all subsequent additions, especially those of the priests, one is left with a teaching which is capable of curing all the social ills of humanity. It is the duty of every man of good will to strive steadfastly in his own little world to make this teaching of pure humanity a living force, so far as he can. If he makes an honest attempt in this direction without being crushed and trampled under foot by his contemporaries, he may consider himself and the community to which he belongs lucky.

Unconfirmed:

  • May the conscience and the common sense of the peoples be awakened, so that we may reach a new stage in the life of nations, where people will look back on war as an incomprehensible aberration of their forefathers!
  • The state is made for man, not man for the state. And in this respect science resembles the state.

Why Socialism? (1949) [ edit ]

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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."
  • 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.
  • 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. In so far 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 centralisation 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?
  • 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.

1950s [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • United Nations radio interview recorded in Einstein's study, Princeton, New Jersey (1950)
  • Note to the fifteenth edition of Relativity: The Special and the General Theory , June 9th, 1952
  • Letter of condolence sent to Robert J. Marcus of the World Jewish Congress (12 February 1950) · Above translation and original German draft
  • Google translation of Germant text of Einsteins handwritten note, quoted in Original draft, texts of letters, and variant translations in "Einstein's Misquote on the Illusion of Feeling Separate from the Whole" (29 March 2018)
  • Variant (Another letter of condolence to another person, written soon after, using the first sentence of the above):
  • Condolence letter to Norman Salit, (4 March 1950) ; also quoted in "The Einstein Papers. A Man of Many Parts" in The New York Times (29 March 1972), p. 1
  • Statement upon joining the Montreal Pipe Smokers Club (1950)
  • "The Need for Ethical Culture" celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Ethical Culture Society , founded by Felix Adler (5 January 1951) (the full remarks can be found in Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein and Carl Seelig )
  • Letter to Hans Muehsam (9 July 1951), Einstein Archives 38-408, quoted in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein (2010) by Alice Calaprice, p. 404
  • I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
  • Letter to Carl Seelig (11 March 1952), Einstein Archives 39-013
  • Translation: Somebody who reads only newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors appears to me like an extremely near-sighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else. And what a person thinks on his own, without being stimulated by the thoughts and experiences of other people, is, similarly, even in the best case rather paltry and monotonous.
  • Article in Der Jungkaufmann, April 1952 , Einstein Archives 28-972
  • Letter to Michele Besso (10 September 1952), Letter n°190, Correspondance, 1903-1955 (1972), by Pierre Speziali and Michele Angelo Besso
  • "Education for Independent Thought" in The New York Times , 5 October 1952. Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions (1954)
  • Letter to Michele Besso (8 October 1952). According to Scientifically speaking: a dictionary of quotations, Volume 1 (2002), p. 154 , the letter is reprinted on p. 487 of Correspondance 1903-1955 (1972) by Michele Besso.
  • Letter to the Michelson Commemorative Meeting of the Cleveland Physics Society (1952), as quoted by R.S.Shankland, Am J Phys 32, 16 (1964), p35, republished in A P French, Special Relativity , ISBN 0177710756
  • Letter to Queen Mother Elisabeth of Belgium (12 January 1953), Einstein Archive 32-405. Quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel by Banesh Hoffman (1973), p. 261 , and also partially quoted (with a reference to the exact date of the letter) in Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (2007), p. 536
  • Einstein's tribute to Pablo Casals (30 March 1953), in Conversations with Casals (1957), page 11, by Josep Maria Corredor, translated from Conversations avec Pablo Casals : souvenirs et opinions d'un musicien (1955)
  • As quoted in The Harper Book of Quotations by Robert I. Fitzhenry (1993), p. 356
  • As quoted in Conscious Courage : Turning Everyday Challenges Into Opportunities (2004) by Maureen Stearns, p. 99
  • The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.
  • Letter to J.S. Switzer (23 April 1953), quoted in The Scientific Revolution: a Hstoriographical Inquiry By H. Floris Cohen (1994), p. 234 , and also partly quoted in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein edited by Alice Calaprice (2010), p. 405
  • "Address on Receiving Lord & Taylor Award" (4 May 1953) in Ideas and Opinions
  • Letter to Eileen Danniheisser (1953), quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel by Banesh Hoffman (1973), p. 261 . The exact date, or the name of his correspondent, is not given in the snippet of the book available online, but the quote appears after the letter to the Queen of Belgium from 12 January 1953, and is prefaced by "Nine months later, in words that recall the beliefs of an early atomic speculator, the Roman poet Lucretius, Einstein had written to an inquirer", followed by the quote. The name "Eileen Danniheisser" is given in Time: Volume 144 , where it is mentioned in the snippets here and here that she had written Einstein "about her obsessive thoughts of death as a child".
  • Essay to Leo Baeck (1953), The New Quotable Einstein.
  • (October 15, 1953) as quoted by Johanna Fantova in Conversations with Einstein
  • Gutkind Letter (3 January 1954), "Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear" . The Guardian. 13 May 2008.  
  • "On Intellectual Freedom", letter to the editor of The Reporter about the situation of scientists in America (13 / 18 October 1954, v11, no. 9; sometimes cited as 14 / 23 September 1954 instead; reprinted in Einstein On Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb , Rowe & Schulmann 2007; also attested to by Abraham J. Multer in his Congressional testimony 2 February 1955, quoting a 23 January 1955 speech in Ohio by The Reporter executive editor Harland Cleveland)
  • Recorded by Linus Pauling, "Note to Self regarding a meeting with Albert Einstein. November 16, 1954"
  • Ideas and Opinions (1954), pp. 238–239; quoted in "Einstein's Philosophy of Science"
  • Address to the Chicago Decalogue Society (20 February 1954)
  • Ideas and Opinions (1954), pp. 25–26
  • Letter to Besso's family (March 1955) following the death of Michele Besso , as quoted in Disturbing the Universe (1979) by Freeman Dyson Ch. 17 "A Distant Mirror", p. 193
  • Sometimes misquoted as "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
  • Variant: "He has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubborn illusion." Quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (2008), p. 540 .
  • Variant: "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That signifies nothing. For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." Quoted in Albert Einstein: The Miracle Mind by Tabatha Yeatts (2007), p. 116 .
  • Variant: "In quitting this strange world he has once again preceded me by a little. That doesn't mean anything. For those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however tenacious." Quoted in The Structure of Physics by Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1985), p. 288 .
  • Variant: "Now he has departed a little ahead of me from this quaint world. This means nothing. For us faithful physicists, the separation between past, present, and future has only the meaning of an illusion, though a persistent one." Quoted in Einstein and Religion by Max Jammer (2002), p. 161 .
  • Variant: "Now he has preceded me by a little bit in his departure from this strange world as well. This means nothing. For those of us who believe in physics, the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however tenacious this illusion may be." Quoted in Einstein: A Biography by Jürgen Neff (2007), p. 402
  • From his "Autobiographische Skizze" (18 April 1955), original German version here . Translation from Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein by Abraham Pais (1982), p. 131 . Pais notes that when he said "during that year", he was referring to some time between October 1895 and early fall 1896.
  • Variant: "Innovation is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure."
  • Original German version: Während dieses Jahres in Aarau kam mir die Frage: Wenn man einer Lichtwelle mit Lichtgeschwindigkeit nachläuft, so würde man ein zeitunabhängiges Wellenfeld vor sich haben. So etwas scheint es aber doch nicht zu geben! Dies war das erste kindliche Gedanken-Experiment, das mit der speziellen Relativitätstheorie zu tun hat. Das Erfinden ist kein Werk des logischen Denkens, wenn auch das Endprodukt an die logische Gestalt gebunden ist. ("Autobiographische Skizze", p. 10)
  • From his "Autobiographische Skizze" (18 April 1955), original German version here . Translation from Einstein from 'B' to 'Z' by John J. Stachel (2001), p. 5 .
  • Variant: "Working on the final formulation of technological patents was a veritable blessing for me. It enforced many-sided thinking and also provided important stimuli to physical thought. [Academia] places a young person under a kind of compulsion to produce impressive quantities of scientific publications — a temptation to superficiality." As quoted in "Who Knew?" at NationalGeographic.com (May 2005).
  • Original German version: Formulierung technischer Patente ein wahrer Segen für mich. Sie zwang zu vielseitigem Denken, bot auch wichtige Anregungen für das physikalische Denken. Endlich ist ein praktischer Beruf für Menschen meiner Art überhaupt ein Segen. Denn die akademische Laufbahn versetzt einen jungen Menschen in eine Art Zwangslage, wissenschaftliche Schriften in impressiver Menge zu produzieren — eine Verführung zur Oberflächlichkeit, der nur starke Charaktere zu widerstehen vermögen. ("Autobiographische Skizze", p. 12)
  • The New York Times (22 April, 1955) response to being asked why people could discover atomic power, but not the means to control it.
  • (Apr 1955) unfinished address he was writing prior to death.
  • Death of a Genius," LIFE magazine (2 May 1955) statement to William Miller, p. 64.

we can not solve problems

  • As quoted by LIFE magazine (2 May 1955)
  • (1955) as quoted in Some strangeness in the proportion: a centennial symposium to celebrate the achievements of Albert Einstein (1980) Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Advanced Book Program.
  • (1955) as quoted in Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives (1997) ed. Gerald Holton , Yehuda Elkana , p. 388, from The Centennial Symposium in Jerusalem (1979)

On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation (1950) [ edit ]

  • This is the reason why all attempts to obtain a deeper knowledge of the foundations of physics seem doomed to me unless the basic concepts are in accordance with general relativity from the beginning. This situation makes it difficult to use our empirical knowledge, however comprehensive, in looking for the fundamental concepts and relations of physics, and it forces us to apply free speculation to a much greater extent than is presently assumed by most physicists.
  • I do not see any reason to assume that the heuristic significance of the principle of general relativity is restricted to gravitation and that the rest of physics can be dealt with separately on the basis of special relativity, with the hope that later on the whole may be fitted consistently into a general relativistic scheme. I do not think that such an attitude, although historically understandable, can be objectively justified. The comparative smallness of what we know today as gravitational effects is not a conclusive reason for ignoring the principle of general relativity in theoretical investigations of a fundamental character. In other words, I do not believe that it is justifiable to ask: What would physics look like without gravitation?
  • There exists a passion for comprehension, just as there exists a passion for music. That passion is rather common in children, but it gets lost in most people later on. Without this passion, there would be neither mathematics nor natural science. Time and again the passion for understanding has led to the illusion that man is able to comprehend the objective world rationally, by pure thought, without any empirical foundations—in short, by metaphysics . I believe that every true theorist is a kind of tamed metaphysicist, no matter how pure a " positivist " he may fancy himself. The metaphysicist believes that the logically simple is also the real. The tamed metaphysicist believes that not all that is logically simple is embodied in experienced reality, but that the totality of all sensory experience can be "comprehended" on the basis of a conceptual system built on premises of great simplicity. The skeptic will say that this is a "miracle creed." Admittedly so, but it is a miracle creed which has been borne out to an amazing extent by the development of science.

Out of My Later Years (1950) [ edit ]

  • Ch. 2 "Self-Portrait" (1936), p. 5
  • Ch. 6 "On Freedom" (1940), p. 12
  • Ch. 6 "On Freedom" (1940), p. 13
  • Ch. 7 "Morals and Emotions" (1938), p. 15
  • Ch. 8 "Science and Religion" (1939-1941), p. 22
  • Ch. 8 "Science and Religion" (1939-1941), p. 23
  • Ch. 13 "Physics and Reality" (1936), p. 61
  • Ch. 16 "The Laws of Science and the Laws of Ethics" (1950)

we can not solve problems

  • Ch. 27 A reply to the Soviet scientists (1948)
  • Ch. 31 "Atomic War or Peace" part II (1947)
  • Ch. 51 "The Goal of Human Existence" (1943)

Essay to Leo Baeck (1953) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • The New Quotable Einstein
  • In order to be a perfect member of a flock of sheep , one has to be, foremost, a sheep.
  • variant translation from Ideas and Opinions : "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."
  • variant translation from Ideas and Opinions : "I salute the man who is going through life always helpful, knowing no fear, and to whom aggressiveness and resentment are alien. Such is the stuff of which the great moral leaders are made who proffer consolation to mankind in their self-created miseries."
  • Ideas and Opinions
  • The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.

Russell–Einstein Manifesto (1955) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race ; or shall mankind renounce war?
  • We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt. The world is full of conflicts; and, overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanic struggle between Communism and anti-Communism...we want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings and consider yourselves only as members of a biological species which has had a remarkable history, and whose disappearance none of us can desire.
  • It is feared that if many H-bombs are used there will be universal death , sudden only for a minority, but for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration.

Attributed in posthumous publications [ edit ]

  • A comment recalled by János Plesch in János, the Story of a Doctor (1947), p. 207. Also quoted in Einstein: the Life and Times by Ronald W. Clark (1971), p. 118 .
  • Variant: "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come close to the conclusion that the gift of imagination has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing absolute knowledge." From The Ultimate Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2010), p. 26 . This book attributes it to Einstein and the Humanities (1979) by Dennis Ryan, p. 125, but Calaprice seems to have copied it wrong, since searching "inside the book" on this book's amazon page using the word "gift" shows that p. 125 actually gives the same quote as in János, the Story of a Doctor .
  • Attributed to Einstein by his colleague Léopold Infeld in his book Quest: An Autobiography (1949), p. 279
  • Attributed to Einstein by his colleague Léopold Infeld in his book Quest: An Autobiography (1949), p. 291
  • Earliest source located is the book Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists by Robert Jungk (1958), p. 249, which says that Einstein made the comment during "a walk with Ernst Straus, a young mathematician acting as his scientific assistant at Princeton."
  • Variant: "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity." From A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking (2005), p. 144 .
  • Earlier, Straus recalled the German version of the quote in Helle Zeit, Dunkle Zeit: In Memoriam Albert Einstein (1956) edited by Carl Seelig, p. 71. There the quote was given as Ja, so muß man seine Zeit zwischen der Politik und unseren Gleichungen teilen. Aber unsere Gleichungen sind mir doch viel wichtiger; denn die Politik ist für die Gegenwart da, aber solch eine Gleichung is etwas für die Ewigkeit.
  • Quoted by Ernst G. Straus , who was Einstein's assistant from 1944 to 1948, in Carl Seelig, Helle Zeit—Dunkel Zeit (Europa Verlag, Zurich, 1956), p. 72
  • As translated in Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (Princeton University Press, 1999), p. 124
  • As translated in Gerald Holton, The Scientific Imagination: Case Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1978), p. xii
  • In Carl Seelig's Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography (1956), Seelig reports that Einstein said this to James Franck, p. 71 .
  • Variant translation which appears in Einstein: The Life and Times by Ronald W. Clark (1971), p. 27
  • Attributed to Einstein in Carl Seelig's Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography (1956), p. 80 . Said to have been a comment he made to his son Eduard when Eduard asked him, at age 9, "Why are you actually so famous, papa?"
  • A comment to T. H. Morgan , as recalled by Henry Borsook. Einstein was visiting Cal Tech where Morgan and Borsook worked, and Morgan explained to Einstein that he was trying to bring physics and chemistry to bear on the problems of biology, to which Einstein gave this response. Borsook's recollection was published in Symposium on Structure of Enzymes and Proteins (1956), p. 284 , as part of a piece titled "Informal remarks 'by way of a summary'". Context for this story is also given in The Molecular Vision of Life by Lily E. Kay (1993), p. 95
  • Attributed to Einstein in Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography by Carl Seeling (1956), p. 114 . Einstein is said to have made this remark "when someone in his company grew angry about a mutual acquaintance's moral decline".
  • Attributed by his friend Leo Mattersdorf, who also said that "From the time Professor Einstein came to this country until his death, I prepared his income tax returns and advised him on his tax problems." In a letter to Time magazine, 22 February 1963. See this post from The Quote Investigator for more background.
  • Conversations with Einstein by Alexander Moszkowski (1971), p. 69 . This is just Moszkowski's English translation of a statement he attributed to Einstein in his 1922 book Einstein, Einblicke in seine Gedankenwelt , p. 77 : "Was die Physik betrifft, fuhr Einstein fort, so darf für den ersten Unterricht gar nichts in Frage kommen, als das Experimentelle, anschaulich-Interessante. Ein hübsches Experiment ist schon an sich oft wertvoller, als zwanzig in der Gedankenretorte entwickelte Formeln." As Moszkowski makes clear in the original German text, this "quotation" is a paraphrasing of his conversation with Einstein.
  • Attributed in Einstein: The Life and Times by Ronald W. Clark (1971), p. 737. The only source given in the end notes is "personal information". Einstein is said to have made this comment when a box of candy was being passed around after dinner, and he said that his doctor wouldn't let him eat it. The book also says that 'A friend asked him why it was the devil and not God who had imposed the penalty. "What's the difference?" he answered. "One has a plus in front, the other a minus."'.
  • A comment of Einstein's recalled by John Wheeler in Albert Einstein: His influence on physics, philosophy and politics edited by Peter C. Aichelburg, Roman Ulrich Sexl, and Peter Gabriel Bergmann (1979), p. 202
  • An explanation of relativity which he gave to his secretary Helen Dukas to convey to non-scientists and reporters, as quoted in Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (1957) by James B. Simpson; also in Expandable Quotable Einstein (2005) edited by Alice Calaprice
  • William Hermanns recorded a series of four conversations he had with Einstein and published them in his book Einstein and the Poet (1983), quoting Einstein saying this variant in a 1948 conversation: "To simplify the concept of relativity, I always use the following example: if you sit with a girl on a garden bench and the moon is shining, then for you the hour will be a minute. However, if you sit on a hot stove, the minute will be an hour." ( p. 87 )
  • In the 1985 book Einstein in America , Jamie Sayen wrote "Einstein devised the following explanation for her [Helen Dukas] to give when asked to explain relativity: An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour." ( p. 130 )
  • Quoted by Otto Stern , a colleague of Einstein in Zurich from 1912 to 1914, in a 1962 oral history interview with Thomas S. Kuhn
  • Statement to German anti-Nazi diplomat and author Prince Hubertus zu Lowenstein around 1941, as quoted in his book Towards the Further Shore : An Autobiography (1968)
  • George Gamow , in his autobiography My World Line: An Informal Autobiography (1970), p. 44. Here the "cosmological term" refers to the cosmological constant in the equations of general relativity, whose value Einstein initially picked to ensure that his model of the universe would neither expand nor contract; if he hadn't done this he might have theoretically predicted the universal expansion that was first observed by Edwin Hubble .
  • As recalled by his biographer Abraham Pais in Reviews of Modern Physics , 51, 863 (1979): 907. Cited in Boojums All The Way Through by N. David Mermin (1990), p. 81
  • When asked by a student what he would have done if Sir Arthur Eddington 's famous 1919 gravitational lensing experiment, which confirmed relativity, had instead disproved it.
  • As quoted in Reality and Scientific Truth : Discussions with Einstein, von Laue, and Planck (1980) by Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider, p. 74
  • Variant: "I would have felt sorry for the dear Lord! The theory is, of course, all right." Quoted in The Physicist's Conception of Nature by Jagdish Mehra (1979), p. 131 . This source attributes it to a conversation with Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider, author of the book the previous version is from.
  • German orgiginal: Dimensionslose Konstanten in den Naturgesetzen, die vom rein logischen Standpunkt aus ebensogut andere Werte haben können, dürfte es nicht geben.
  • As quoted in Begegnungen mit Einstein, von Laue, und Planck (1988) by Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider, p. 31, English edition Reality and Scientific Truth : Discussions with Einstein, von Laue, and Planck (1980) by Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider
  • As quoted by Ernst Straus in Einstein: A Centenary Volume by A.P. French (1980), p. 32.
  • Variant: "if you want to be a happy man, you should tie your life to a goal, not to other people and not to things." A quote from Ernst Straus' memoir of Einstein in Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives edited by Gerald Holton and Yehuda Elkana (1982), p. 420
  • I Visit Professor Einstein by Jack Brown published in Ojai Valley News ,(28 September 1983)
  • Attributed to Einstein by physicist John Archibald Wheeler in John Horgan's article "Profile: Physicist John A. Wheeler, Questioning the 'It from Bit'". Scientific American , pp. 36-37, June 1991. Reprinted here after Wheeler's death.
  • As quoted in The Private Albert Einstein (1992) by Peter A. Bucky and Allen G. Weakland, p. 86
  • Statement recorded in the diary of his companion Johanna Fantova, quoted at the end of the New York Times story "From Companion's Lost Diary, A Portrait of Einstein in Old Age" by Dennis Overbye (24 April 2004)
  • Albert Einstein in a letter to his cousin and second wife Elsa, during a visit to the University of Oxford, in collection donated to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel by Einstein's stepdaughter Margot, as quoted in "Einstein in no-sock shock" , New Scientist (15 July 2006)
  • Quoted in a WSJ 1994 article Science Resurrects God .

Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1979) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • Letter to Carl Seelig (25 October 1953), p. 22
  • Entry in a travel diary (10 December 1931) discussing a storm at sea, p. 23
  • A note Einstein wrote underneath an etching of himself (made by Hermann Struck) which he sent to a friend, Dr. Hans Mühsam. According to the book, "the date is 1920 or perhaps earlier", p. 24
  • 19 June 51, p. 34
  • p. 37 - 27 January 1921
  • Aphorism (1937), p. 38
  • Reply to a letter sent to him on 17 July 1953 p. 39
  • Draft of a German reply to a letter sent to him in 1954 or 1955, p. 39
  • Statement (5 February 1921), p. 40
  • Letter to an atheist (24 March 1954), p. 43
  • From the same 24 March 1954 letter as above, p. 44
  • Letter (30 July 1947), p. 46
  • Letter to Queen Mother Elizabeth of Belgium (20 March, likely 1936), written to her when she was depressed over the recent death of her husband and daughter-in-law, p. 51

we can not solve problems

  • Jotted (in German) on the margins of a letter to him (1933), p. 56
  • Unsourced variants: Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. / You can't blame gravity for falling in love.
  • Letter to California student E. Holzapfel (March 1951) Einstein Archive 59-1013, p. 57
  • c. 1946, p. 63-64
  • c. 1948, p. 54
  • p. 66 of the 1981 edition
  • Letter to Cornel Lanczos (21 March 1942), p. 68

we can not solve problems

  • Written statement (September 1937), p. 70

we can not solve problems

  • Letter (26 April 1945), p. 72
  • Letter to Adrianna Enriques (October 1921), p. 83
  • Letter to the minister of a church in Brooklyn (20 November 1950), p. 95. The minister had earlier written Einstein asking if he would send him a signed version of a quote about the Catholic church attributed to Einstein in Time magazine (see the #Misattributed section below), and Einstein had written back to say the quote was not correct, but that he was "gladly willing to write something else which would suit your purpose". According to the book, the minister replied "saying he was glad the statement had not been correct since he too had reservations about the historical role of the Church at large", and said that "he would leave the decision to Einstein as to the topic of the statement", to which Einstein replied with the statement above.
  • Statement to Christian conference (27 January 1947), p. 96
  • (28 September 1932), p. 106
  • Response to a letter from an unemployed professional musician (5 April 1933), p. 115
  • The editors precede this passage thus, "Early in 1933, Einstein received a letter from a professional musician who presumably lived in Munich. The musician was evidently troubled and despondent, and out of a job, yet at the same time, he must have been something of a kindred spirit. His letter is lost, all that survives being Einstein's reply....Note the careful anonymity of the first sentence — the recipient would be safer that way:" Albert Einstein: The Human Side concludes with this passage, followed by the original passages in German.

Albert Einstein: A guide for the perplexed (1979) [ edit ]

  • Told by P. Morrison
  • From Lettre à Maurice Solvine , by A. Einstein (Gauthier-Villars: Paris 1956)
  • From Albert Einstein and the Cosmic World Order , by C. Lanczos (Wiley, New York, 1956)

Einstein and the Poet (1983) [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

First conversation (1930):

  • p. 31; spoken on hearing German marchers singing war songs. On p. 474 of Alice Calaprice's The Ultimate Quotable Einstein , she lists "we only use 10 percent of our brain" as a quote "misattributed to Einstein", perhaps this is the source of the misquote? Einstein seems to be speaking metaphorically here, not endorsing the myth that science has shown 90 percent of the neurons in our brain lie dormant. And the myth dates back to before this interview, for example the book Mind Myths: Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain , edited by Sergio Della Salla, has a chapter by Barry L. Beyerstein titled "Whence Cometh the Myth that We Only Use 10% of our Brains?" which shows on p. 11 an advertisement from the 1929 World Almanac containing the line "There is NO LIMIT to what the human brain can accomplish. Scientists and psychologists tell us we use only about TEN PER CENT of our brain power."

Second conversation (1943):

Third conversation (1948):

Fourth conversation (1954):

  • Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine : "I cannot accept any concept of God based on the fear of life or the fear of death, or blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him I would be a liar."
  • Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine : "Certainly there are things worth believing. I believe in the brotherhood of man and the uniqueness of the individual. But if you ask me to prove what I believe, I can't. You know them to be true but you could spend a whole lifetime without being able to prove them. The mind can proceed only so far upon what it knows and can prove. There comes a point where the mind takes a leap—call it intuition or what you will—and comes out upon a higher plane of knowledge, but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap."
  • Unsourced variant: "The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you do not know how or why. All great discoveries are made in this way." The earliest published version of this variant appears to be The Human Side of Scientists by Ralph Edward Oesper (1975), p. 58 , but no source is provided, and the similarity to the "Life Magazine" quote above suggests it's likely a misquote.
  • In response to statement "You once told me that progress is made only by intuition, and not by the accumulation of knowledge."
  • Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine : "It is not quite so simple. Knowledge is necessary too. A child with great intuition could not grow up to become something worthwhile in life without some knowledge. However there comes a point in everyone's life where only intuition can make the leap ahead, without knowing precisely how.":
  • Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine : "Then do not stop to think about the reasons for what you are doing, about why you are questioning. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reasons for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity."
  • Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine : "Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives."

Einstein's God (1997) [ edit ]

  • The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.

we can not solve problems

  • Letter to Rabbi Solomon Goldman of Chicago's Anshe Emet Congregation, p. 51
  • Reply to a Roman Catholic student urging him to pray to Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and convert to Christianity.
  • Comment on the Union of Orthodox Rabbis after they had expelled a rabbi because of his disbelief in God as a personal entity.

Einstein and Religion (1999) [ edit ]

  • Foreword of "Man and his Gods" by Homer W. Smith
  • From a letter to Eduard Büsching (25 October 1929) after Büsching sent Einstein a copy of his book Es gibt keinen Gott [ There Is no God ]. Einstein responded that the book only dealt with the concept of a personal God, p. 51
  • Interview with J. Murphy and J. W. N. Sullivan (1930), p. 68
  • Letter in response to sixth-grader Phyllis Wright, asking whether scientists pray, and if so, what they pray for (24 January 1936) p. 92-93
  • Letter (7 August 1941) discussing responses to his essay "Science and Religion" (1941), p. 97
  • Letter to his friend Maurice Solovine (1 January 1951) p. 120
  • Letter to Beatrice F. in response to a question about whether he was a "free thinker" (17 December 1952), p. 121
  • As quoted in "A Talk with Einstein" in The Listener 54 (1955) p. 123
  • From a letter to Murray W. Gross (26 April 1947), p. 138
  • http://umich.edu/~scps/html/01chap/html/summary.htm

Disputed [ edit ]

  • As quoted in Journal of France and Germany (1942–1944) by Gilbert Fowler White , in excerpt published in Living with Nature's Extremes: The Life of Gilbert Fowler White (2006) by Robert E. Hinshaw, p. 62. From the context it seems that White did not specify whether he had heard Einstein himself say this or whether he was repeating a quote that had been passed along by someone else, so without a primary source the validity of this quote should be considered questionable. Some have argued that elsewhere Einstein defined a "miracle" as a type of event he did not believe was possible— Einstein on Religion by Max Jammer (1999) quotes on p. 89 from a 1931 conversation Einstein had with David Reichinstein, where Reichinstein brought up philosopher Arthur Liebert's argument that the indeterminism of quantum mechanics might allow for the possibility of miracles, and Einstein replied that Liebert's argument dealt "with a domain in which lawful rationality [determinism] does not exist. A 'miracle,' however, is an exception from lawfulness; hence, there where lawfulness does not exist, also its exception, i.e., a miracle, cannot exist." (" Dort, wo eine Gesetzmässigkeit nicht vorhanden ist, kann auch ihre Ausnahme, d.h. ein Wunder, nicht existieren. " D. Reichenstein, Die Religion der Gebildeten (1941), p. 21). However, it is clear from the context that Einstein was stating only that miracles cannot exist in a domain (quantum mechanics) where lawful rationality does not exist. He did not claim that miracles could never exist in any domain. Indeed, Einstein clearly believed, as seen in many quotations above, that the universe was comprehensible and rational, but he also described this characteristic of the universe as a "miracle". In another example, he is quoted as claiming belief in a God, "Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world."
  • As quoted in From Yale to Jail: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter (1993) by David T. Dellinger , p. 418
  • No known source; it appears to be a paraphrase of the last sentence of Einstein's "An Ideal of Service to Our Fellow Man" . Earliest known attribution is in the Washingon Afro-American , AFRO Magazine Section , Sept 21, 1954, p. 2
  • The measure of intelligence is the ability to change
  • Attributed without source to Einstein in Mieczyslaw Taube, Evolution of Matter and Energy on a Cosmic and Planetary Scale (1985), page 1
  • Attributed in FBI Memo, February 13, 1950 (item 61-4099-25 in Einstein's FBI file—viewable online as p. 72 of "Albert Einstein Part 1 of 14" here , as well as p. 72 of the pdf file which can be downloaded here ). There is no other information in the FBI's released files as to what source attributed this statement to Einstein, and the files are full of falsehoods, including the accusation that Einstein was secretly pro-communist.
  • The Ultimate Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice lists this as "probably not by Einstein". However, this post from quoteinvestigator.com traces it to a reasonably plausible source: the second part of a three-part series by Lincoln Barrett (former editor of 'Life' magazine) titled "The Universe and Dr. Einstein" in Harper's Magazine, from May 1948, in which Barrett wrote "But as Einstein has pointed out, common sense is actually nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind prior to the age of eighteen." Since he didn't put the statement in quotes it could be a paraphrase, and "as Einstein has pointed out" makes it unclear whether Einstein said this personally to Barrett or Barrett was recalling a quote of Einstein's he'd seen elsewhere. In any case, the interview was republished in a book of the same title, and Einstein wrote a foreword which praised Barrett's work on the book, so it's likely he read the quote about common sense and at least had no objection to it, whether or not he recalled making the specific comment.
  • Unsourced variant: Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
  • Variants: "... is man's greatest invention" and "... is the eighth wonder of the world".
  • May add: "He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn't, pays it."
  • This Snopes article concluded that its status was uncertain, while this post from The Quote Investigator concludes it is most likely a false attribution, since variants of the quote date back to at least 1916, with the early variants not being attributed to Einstein.
  • Found in Montana Libraries: Volumes 8-14 (1954), p. cxxx . The story is given as follows: "In the current New Mexico Library Bulletin, Elizabeth Margulis tells a story of a woman who was a personal friend of the late dean of scientists, Dr. Albert Einstein. Motivated partly by her admiration for him, she held hopes that her son might become a scientist. One day she asked Dr. Einstein's advice about the kind of reading that would best prepare the child for this career. To her surprise, the scientist recommended 'Fairy tales and more fairy tales.' The mother protested that she was really serious about this and she wanted a serious answer; but Dr. Einstein persisted, adding that creative imagination is the essential element in the intellectual equipment of the true scientist, and that fairy tales are the childhood stimulus to this quality." However, it is unclear from this description whether Margulis heard this story personally from the woman who had supposedly had this discussion with Einstein, and the relevant issue of the New Mexico Library Bulletin does not appear to be online.
  • Variant: "First, give him fairy tales; second, give him fairy tales, and third, give him fairy tales!" Found in The Wilson Library Bulletin , Vol. 37 from 1962, which says on p. 678 that this quote was reported by "Doris Gates, writer and children's librarian".
  • Variant: "Fairy tales ... More fairy tales ... Even more fairy tales". Found in Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales by Jack Zipes (1979), p. 1 .
  • Variant: "If you want your children to be brilliant, tell them fairy tales. If you want them to be very brilliant, tell them even more fairy tales." Found in Chocolate for a Woman's Heart & Soul by Kay Allenbaugh (1998), p. 57 . This version can be found in Usenet posts from before 1998, like this one from 1995 .
  • Variant: "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Found in Mad, Bad and Dangerous?: The Scientist and the Cinema by Christopher Frayling (2005), p. 6 .
  • Variant: "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." Found in Super joy English, Volume 8 by 佳音事業機構 (2006), p. 87
  • Although similar to many of Einstein's comments about the importance of intuition and imagination, no sources for this can be found prior to The Psychology of Consciousness by Robert Evan Ornstein (1973), p. 68 , where there is no mention of where the quote was originally made. A number of early sources from the 1980s and 1990s attribute it to The Intuitive Edge by Philip Goldberg (1983), which also provides no original source.
  • As discussed in this entry from The Quote Investigator , the earliest published attribution of a similar quote to Einstein seems to have been in Gestalt therapist Frederick S. Perls ' 1969 book Gestalt Theory Verbatim , where he wrote on p. 33: "As Albert Einstein once said to me: 'Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity.' But what is much more widespread than the actual stupidity is the playing stupid, turning off your ear, not listening, not seeing." Perls also offered another variant in his 1972 book In and Out the Garbage Pail , where he mentioned a meeting with Einstein and on p. 52 quoted him saying: "Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe." However, Perls had given yet another variant of this quote in an earlier book, Ego, Hunger, and Aggression: a Revision of Freud's Theory and Method (originally published 1942, although the Quote Investigator only checked that the quote appeared in the 1947 edition), where he attributed it not to Einstein but to a "great astronomer", writing: "As modern times promote hasty eating to a large extent, it is not surprising to learn that a great astronomer said: 'Two things are infinite, as far as we know – the universe and human stupidity.' To-day we know that this statement is not quite correct. Einstein has proved that the universe is limited." So, the later attributions in 1969 and 1972 may have been a case of faulty memory, or of intentionally trying to increase the authority of the quote by attributing it to Einstein. The quote itself may be a variant of a similar quote attributed even earlier to the philosopher Ernest Renan , found for example in The Public: Volume 18 from 1915, which says on p. 1126 : "He quotes the saying of Renan: it isn't the stars that give him an idea of infinity; it is man's stupidity." (Other examples of similar attributions to Renan can be found on this Google Books search .) Renan was French so this is presumably intended as a translation, but different sources give different versions of the supposed original French quote, such as " La bêtise humaine est la seule chose qui donne une idée de l'infini " (found for example in Réflexions sur la vie, 1895-1898 by Remy de Gourmont from 1903, p. 103 , along with several other early sources as seen in this search ) and " Ce n'est pas l'immensité de la voûte étoilée qui peut donner le plus complétement l'idée de l'infini, mais bien la bêtise humaine! " (found in Broad views, Volume 2 from 1904, p. 465 ). Since these variants have not been found in Renan's own writings, they may represent false attributions as well. They may also be variants of an even older saying; for example, the 1880 book Des vers by Guy de Maupassant includes on p. 9 a quote from a letter (dated February 19, 1880) by Gustave Flaubert where Flaubert writes " Cependant, qui sait? La terre a des limites, mais la bêtise humaine est infinie! " which translates to "But who knows? The earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is infinite!" Similarly the 1887 book Melanges by Jules-Paul Tardivel includes on p. 273 a piece said to have been written in 1880 in which he writes " Aujourd'hui je sais qu'il n'y a pas de limites à la bêtise humaine, qu'elle est infinie " which translates to "today I know that there is no limit to human stupidity, it is infinite."
  • Variant: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Earliest version located is in Technocracy digest: Issues 287–314 from 1988, p. 76 . Translated to German as: " Zwei Dinge sind unendlich: das Universum und die menschliche Dummheit. Aber beim Universum bin ich mir nicht ganz sicher. " (Earliest version located - "Zwei Dinge sind unendlich, das Universum und die menschliche Dummheit . . . Und beim Universum bin ich mir noch keineswegs sicher" - in Hans Askenasy: Sind wir alle Nazis? Zum Potential der Unmenschlichkeit , Campus Verlag Frankfurt/Main 1979, p. 153 books.google .)
  • The source generally (but falsely) cited is Einstein's The World As I See It (1949). The quotation is probably a translation of " Der Zufall ist das Pseudonym, das der liebe Gott wählt, wenn er inkognito bleiben will " (attributed to Albert Schweitzer ).
  • "Einstein's famous saying in Copenhagen", as quoted in a FBIS Daily Report : East Europe (4 April 1995), p. 45
  • Attributed to Einstein in Treasury of the Christian Faith (1949) p. 415 books.google , and subsequently repeated in other books. No original source where Einstein supposedly said this has been located, and it is absent from authoritative sources such as Calaprice, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein .
  • Variant: If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.
  • There is no indication that Einstein said this. According to Quote Investigator, the earliest publication of a quote similar was in a collection of articles about manufacturing in 1966, when an employee of the Stainless Processing Company wrote a piece titled "The Manufacturing Manager's Skills." The article attributed the quote to an unnamed professor at Yale, by saying, "If I had only one hour to solve a problem, I would spend up to two-thirds of that hour in attempting to define what the problem is." (See, 1966, The Manufacturing Man and His Job by Robert E. Finley and Henry R. Ziobro, "The Manufacturing Manager's Skills" by William H. Markle (Vice President, Stainless Processing Company, Chicago, Illinois), Start Page 15, Quote Page 18, Published by American Management Association, Inc., New York. Verified on paper). https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/22/solve/

Misattributed [ edit ]

  • I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots.
  • I fear the day when technology overlaps our humanity. It will be then that the world will have permanent ensuing generations of idiots.
  • It's become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity.
  • Although it is a popular quote on the internet, there is no substantial evidence that Einstein actually said that. It does not appear in "The Ultimate Quotable Einstein" from Princeton University Press nor in any reliable source. " Quote Investigator " concluded that it probably emerged as a meme on the internet as late as 2012.
  • This or similar statements are more often misattributed to Herbert Spencer , but the source of the phrase "contempt prior to investigation" seems to have been William Paley , A View of the Evidences of Christianity (1794): "The infidelity of the Gentile world, and that more especially of men of rank and learning in it, is resolved into a principle which, in my judgment, will account for the inefficacy of any argument, or any evidence whatever, viz . contempt prior to examination."

Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Then I looked to individual writers who, as literary guides of Germany, had written much and often concerning the place of freedom in modern life; but they, too, were mute.

Only the church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.

  • Attributed in "The Conflict Between Church And State In The Third Reich", by S. Parkes Cadman , La Crosse Tribune and Leader-Press (28 October 1934), viewable online on p. 9 of the issue here (double-click the page to zoom). The quote is preceded by "In this connection it is worth quoting in free translation a statement made by Professor Einstein last year to one of my colleagues who has been prominently identified with the Protestant church in its contacts with Germany." [Emphasis added.] While based on something that Einstein said, Einstein himself stated that the quote was not an accurate record of his words or opinion. After the quote appeared in Time magazine (23 December 1940), p. 38 , a minister in Harbor Springs, Michigan wrote to Einstein to check if the quote was real. Einstein wrote back " It is true that I made a statement which corresponds approximately with the text you quoted. I made this statement during the first years of the Nazi-Regime — much earlier than 1940 — and my expressions were a little more moderate. " (March 1943) [9]
The wording of the statement you have quoted is not my own. Shortly after Hitler came to power in Germany I had an oral conversation with a newspaper man about these matters. Since then my remarks have been elaborated and exaggerated nearly beyond recognition. I cannot in good conscience write down the statement you sent me as my own. The matter is all the more embarrassing to me because I, like yourself, I am predominantly critical concerning the activities, and especially the political activities, through history of the official clergy. Thus, my former statement, even if reduced to my actual words (which I do not remember in detail) gives a wrong impression of my general attitude.
  • Variant: The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism.
  • These two statements are very similar, widely quoted, and seem to paraphrase some ideas in the essay " Religion and Science " (see below), but neither of the two specific quotes above been properly sourced. Notable Einstein scholars such as John Stachel and Thomas J. McFarlane (author of Buddha and Einstein: The Parallel Sayings ) know of this statement but have not found any source for it. Any information on any definite original sources for these is welcome.
  • This quote does not actually appear in Albert Einstein: The Human Side as is sometimes claimed.
  • Only two sources from before 1970 can be found on Google Books. The first is The Theosophist: Volume 86 which seems to cover the years 1964 and 1965 . The quote appears attributed to Einstein on p. 255 , with the wording given as "The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description." An identical quote appears on p. 284 of The Maha Bodhi: Volume 72 published by the Maha Bodhi Society of India, which seems to contain issues from throughout 1964 .
  • A number of phrases in the quote are similar to phrases in Einstein's "Religion and Science". Comparing the version of the quote in The Theosophist to the version of "Religion and Science" published in 1930, "a cosmic religion" in the first resembles "the cosmic religious sense" in the second; "transcend a personal God" resembles "does not involve an anthropomorphic idea of God"; "covering both the natural and the spiritual" resembles "revealed in nature and in the world of thought"; "the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity" resembles "experience the totality of existence as a unity full of significance"; and "Buddhism answers this description" resembles "The cosmic element is much stronger in Buddhism". These phrases appear in the same order in both cases, and the ones from "Religion and Science" are all from a single paragraph of the essay.
  • These have appeared in youtube videos under titles sometimes similar to "5 Things not to Share with Anyone (Albert Einstein)"
  • Attributed in emails in 1999, as debunked at "Malice of Absence" at Snopes.com
  • This statement has been attributed to others before Einstein; its first attribution to Einstein appears to have been in an email story that began circulating in 2004. See the Urban Legends Reference Pages for more discussion.
  • Earliest attribution located is The Yogi and the Commissar by Arthur Koestler (1945), p. v . Koestler prefaces it with "My comfort is what Einstein said when somebody reproached him with the suggestion that his formula of gravitation was longer and more cumbersome than Newton's formula in its elegant simplicity". This is actually a variant of a quote Einstein attributed to Ludwig Boltzmann ; in the Preface to his Relativity—The Special and General Theory (1916), Einstein wrote: "I adhered scrupulously to the precept of that brilliant theoretical physicist L. Boltzmann, according to whom matters of elegance ought to be left to the tailor and to the cobbler." (reprinted in the 2007 book A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein edited by Stephen Hawking, p. 128 )
  • If Einstein said this, he was almost certainly quoting philosopher Immanuel Kant 's words from the conclusion to the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), translated in Paul Guyer's The Cambridge Companion to Kant ( p. 1 ) as: "Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me."
  • This is similar to a quote attributed to Mark Twain : "I never let my schooling get in the way of my education". The earliest published source located attributing the quote to Einstein is the 1999 book Career Management for the Creative Person by Lee T. Silber, p. 130 , while the earliest published source located for the Mark Twain quote is the 1996 book Children at Risk by C. Niall McElwee, p. 45 . Both quotes appeared on the internet before that: the earliest post located that attributes the quote to Einstein is this one from 11 February 1994 , while the earliest located that attributes the variant to Mark Twain is this one from 28 March 1988
  • This quote does appear in Einstein's 1940 essay "The Fundaments of Physics" which can be found in his book Out of My Later Years (1950), but Einstein does not claim credit for it, instead calling it " Lessing 's fine saying".
  • Earliest source located that attributes this to Einstein is the 1975 book The Nature of Scientific Discovery: A Symposium Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus edited by Owen Gingerich, p. 585 . But long before that, the 1944 book Einstein: An Intimate Study of a Great Man by Dimitri Marianoff and Palma Wayne contains the following quote on p. 62: "But Einstein came along and took space and time out of the realm of stationary things and put them in the realm of relativity—giving the onlooker dominion over time and space, because time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live." It appears from the quote that the authors were giving their own description of Einstein's ideas, not quoting him.
  • variant: If you can't explain something to a six-year-old, you really don't understand it yourself.
  • variant: If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
  • Frequently attributed to Richard Feynman
  • Probably based on a similar quote about explaining physics to a "barmaid" by Ernest Rutherford
  • Page 418 of Einstein: His Life and Times (1972) by Ronald W. Clark says that Louis de Broglie did attribute a similar statement to Einstein: To de Broglie, Einstein revealed an instinctive reason for his inability to accept the purely statistical interpretation of wave mechanics. It was a reason which linked him with Rutherford, who used to state that "it should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid." Einstein, having a final discussion with de Broglie on the platform of the Gare du Nord in Paris, whence they had traveled from Brussels to attend the Fresnel centenary celebrations, said "that all physical theories, their mathematical expressions apart ought to lend themselves to so simple a description 'that even a child could understand them.' "
  • The de Broglie quote is from his 1962 book New Perspectives in Physics , p. 184 .
  • Cf. this quote from David Hilbert 's talk Mathematical Problems given in 1900 before the International Congress of Mathematicians: "A mathematical theory is not to be considered complete until you have made it so clear that you can explain it to the first man whom you meet on the street."
  • Cf. this quote from Kurt Vonnegut 's novel Cat's Cradle :
  • Earliest published version found on Google Books with this phrasing is in the 1993 book The Internet Companion: A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking by Tracy L. LaQuey and Jeanne C. Ryer, p. 25 . However, the quote seems to have been circulating on the internet earlier than this, appearing for example in this post from 1987 and this one from 1985 . No reference has been found that cites a source in Einstein's original writings, and the quote appears to be a variation of an old joke that dates at least as far back as 1866, as discussed in this entry from the "Quote Investigator" blog . A variant was told by Thomas Edison , appearing in The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison (1948), p. 216 : "When I was a little boy, persistently trying to find out how the telegraph worked and why, the best explanation I ever got was from an old Scotch line repairer who said that if you had a dog like a dachshund long enough to reach from Edinburgh to London, if you pulled his tail in Edinburgh he would bark in London. I could understand that. But it was hard to get at what it was that went through the dog or over the wire." A variant of Edison's comment can be found in the 1910 book Edison, His Life and Inventions, Volume 1 by Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin, p. 53 .
  • Variant, earliest known published version is How to Think Like Einstein by Scott Thorpe (2000), p. 61 . Appeared on the internet before that, as in this archived page from 12 October 1999
  • Actually said by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. in his book The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table : "Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions."
  • German quote attributed to Einstein in Huters astrologischer Kalender 1960 [A]
  • Translated by Tad Mann, unidentified 1987 work
  • Contradicted by Denis Hamel, The End of the Einstein-Astrology-Supporter Hoax , Skeptical Inquirer , Vol. 31, No. 6 (Nov-Dec 2007), pp. 39-43
  • Alice Calaprice, The Expanded Quotable Einstein : "Attributed to Einstein [...] An excellent example of a quotation someone made up and attributed to Einstein in order to lend an idea credibility."
  • A variation on a quotation of Alexander Pope , attributed to Einstein in various recent sources, such as Marvin Minsky 's The Emotion Machine (2006), p. 176 , and at the start of the 2006 pilot episode of the television series Eureka . The oldest published source located attributing this to Einstein is the 2004 book Strategic Investment: Real Options and Games by Han T. J. Smit and Lenos Trigeorgis, p. 429 , and before that it was attributed to him on the internet, the earliest example found being this post from 19 May 1995 . But long before that, the same quote appears in an advertisement for Encyclopaedia Britannica that ran in The Atlantic Monthly: Volume 216 from 1965, p. 139 . The ad mentioned Einstein but did not directly attribute the quote to him: "Encyclopaedia Britannica says: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot. The more you know, the more you need to know — as Albert Einstein, for one, might have told you. Great knowledge has a way of bringing with it great responsibility. The people who put the Encyclopaedia Britannica together feel the same way. After all, if most of the world had come to count on you as the best single source of complete, accurate, up-to-date information on everything, you'd want to be pretty sure you knew what you were talking about."
  • Actually written by E. F. Schumacher in a 1973 essay titled "Small is Beautiful" which appeared in The Radical Humanist: volume 37 , p. 22 . Earliest published source found on Google Books attributing this to Einstein is BMJ: The British Medical Journal , volume 319, 23 October 1999, p. 1102 . It was attributed to Einstein on the internet somewhat before that, for example in this 1997 post .
  • The earliest published source located on Google Books attributing this to Einstein is the 2000 book The Internet Handbook for Writers, Researchers, and Journalists by Mary McGuire, p. 14 . It was attributed to him on the internet before that, as in this post from 1997 . Variants of the quote can be found well before this however, as in the 1989 book Urban Surface Water Management by S. G. Walesh, which on p. 315 contains the statement (said to have been 'stated anonymously'): "The computer is incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Man is unbelievably slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. The marriage of the two is a challenge and opportunity beyond imagination." Even earlier, the article "A Paper Industry Application of Systems Engineering and Direct Digital Control" by H. D. Couture, Jr. and M. A. Keyes, which appears in the 1969 Advances in Instrumentation: Vol. 24, Part 4 , has a statement on this page which uses phrasing similar to the supposed Einstein quote in describing computers and people: "Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. On the other hand, a well trained operator as compared with a computer is incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant." Variants with slightly different wording can be found earlier than 1969, as in this April 1968 article . The earliest source located, and most likely the origin of this saying, is an article titled "Problems, Too, Have Problems" by John Pfeiffer, which appeared in the October 1961 issue of Fortune magazine. As quoted here , Pfeiffer's article contained the line "Man is a slow, sloppy, and brilliant thinker; computers are fast, accurate, and stupid."
  • Einstein did write this quote in "On Education" from 1936, which appeared in Out of My Later Years , but it was not his own original quip, he attributed it to an unnamed "wit".
  • Very popular in French: " La culture est ce qui reste lorsque l'on a tout oublié " (Culture is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything). Attributed in French to Édouard Herriot (1872-1957) and, in English, sometimes to Ortega y Gasset . Another French variant is "la culture est ce qui reste lorsqu'on a oublié toutes les choses apprises" (Culture is that which remains if one has forgotten everything one has learned), which appears in the 1912 book Propos Critiques by Georges Duhamel , p. 14 . And another English variant is "Culture is that which remains with a man when he has forgotten all he has learned" which appears in The Living Age: Volume 335 from 1929, p. 159 , where it is attributed to "Edouard Herriot, French Minister of Education". Another English variant is "Education is that which remains behind when all we have learned at school is forgotten", which appears in The Education Outlook, vol. 60 p. 532 (from an issue dated 2 December 1907), where it is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson .
  • The saying is found in an 1891 article by Swedish writer Ellen Key , "Själamorden i skolorna", which was published in the journal "Verdandi", no. 2, pages 86-98 (the saying is on p. 97). The same article was republished later as a chapter in her 1900 book "Barnets Århundrade". Here is the quote in Swedish ( p. 160 ): Men bildning är lyckligtvis icke blott kunskap om fakta, utan enligt en ypperlig paradox: »det, som är kvar, sedan vi glömt allt, vad vi lärt». Here it is from the 1909 English translation of the book ( p. 231 ): "But education happily is not simply the knowledge of facts, it is, as an admirable paradox has put it, what is left over after we have forgotten all we have learnt." From the way Ellen Key puts it, she doesn't take credit for the saying, but rather refers to it as an already known "paradox" that she explicitly puts between quotation marks.
  • A variant — "Professor Einstein, the learned scientist, once calculated that if all bees disappeared off the earth, four years later all humans would also have disappeared" — appears in The Irish Beekeeper , v.19-20, 1965-66, p74, citing Abeilles et Fleurs ( Bees and Flowers , the house magazine of Union Nationale de l'Apiculture Française) for June 1965. Snopes.com mentions its use in a beekeepers' protest in 1994 in Europe [11] suggesting invention and attribution to Einstein for political reasons.
  • Multiple variations of this quote can be found, but the earliest one on Google Books which uses the phrase "friendly or hostile" and attributes it to Einstein is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Spiritual Healing by Susan Gregg (2000), p. 5 , and this book gives no source for the quote.
  • A variant is found in Irving Oyle's The New American Medicine Show (1979) on p. 163, where Oyle writes: 'There is a story about Albert Einstein's view of human existence. Asked to pose the most vital question facing humanity, he replied, "Is the universe friendly?"' This variant is repeated in a number of books from the 1980s and 90s, so it probably pre-dates the "friendly or hostile" version. And the idea that the most important question we can ask is "Is the universe friendly?" dates back much earlier than the attribution to Einstein, for example in Emil Carl Wilm's 1912 book The Problem of Religion he includes the following footnote on p. 114 : 'A friend proposed to the late F. W. H. Myers the following question: "What is the thing which above all others you would like to know? If you could ask the Sphinx one question, and only one, what would the question be?" After a moment's silence Myers replied: "I think it would be this: Is the universe friendly?"'
  • Variously attributed also to Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain . The earliest known occurrence, and probable origin, is from a 1981 text from Narcotics Anonymous : "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results." Cf. Rita Mae Brown#Misattributed .
  • It seems that this quote has only begun to be attributed to Einstein recently, the earliest published source located being the 2008 book Visualization for Dummies by Bernard Golden, p. 85 . Before that it was often attributed to the physicist John Wheeler , who quoted the saying in Complexity, Entropy, and the Physics of Information , p. 10 . In fact, this quip is much older; the earliest source located is Ray Cummings ' 1921 short story "The Time Professor", which includes the passage : '"I do know what time is," Tubby declared. He paused. "Time," he added slowly -- "time is what keeps everything from happening at once ...".' Cummings repeated the quote in his 1922 science fiction novel The Girl in the Golden Atom , available on Project Gutenberg here (according to Science-Fiction: The Early Years by Everett F. Bleiler, p. 171 , the novel was a composite of two earlier stories published in 1919 and 1920). Chapter V contains the following paragraph: The Big Business Man smiled. "Time," he said, "is what keeps everything from happening at once." The next-earliest source found for this quote is another book by Ray Cummings, The Man Who Mastered Time from 1929, and no published examples of the quote from authors other than Cummings can be found until the 1962 Film Facts: Volume 5 where it appears on p. 48 . So, it seems likely that Ray Cummings is the real originator of this saying.
  • From William Bruce Cameron's Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963), p. 13. The comment is part of a longer paragraph and does not appear in quotations in Cameron's book, and other sources such as The Student's Companion to Sociology (p. 92) attribute the quote to Cameron. A number of recent books claim that Einstein had a sign with these words in his office in Princeton, but until a reliable historical source can be found to support this, skepticism is warranted. The earliest source on Google Books that mentions the quote in association with Einstein and Princeton is Charles A. Garfield's 1986 book Peak Performers: The New Heroes of American Business, in which he wrote on p. 156: Albert Einstein liked to underscore the micro/macro partnership with a remark from Sir George Pickering that he chalked on the blackboard in his office at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton: "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."
  • According to The Quote Verifier (2006) by Ralph Keyes, Einstein never said any such thing. (According to p. 285 of the book's "source notes" Keyes checked New Statesman 16 April 1965, which is commonly cited as the source of this quote. Some other books claim it is from New Statesman 16 April 1955 and at least one has it as 1945, but a Google Books search with the date range restricted to 1900-1995 shows that all the earliest sources give it as 1965. This includes the earliest source located, The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations from 1971, as can be verified by this search .) Keyes notes that Einstein "did use similar words to make a very different point" when he wrote, in a 1954 letter to the editor at The Reporter magazine, "If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances."
  • Similarly, in Einstein and the Poet by William Hermanns, p. 86 , Einstein is quoted saying the following in a 1948 interview: "If I should be born again, I will become a cobbler and do my thinking in peace."
  • The earliest published attribution of this quote to Einstein found on Google Books is the 1991 book The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis by Raj Jain (p. 507), but no source to Einstein's original writings is given and the quote itself is older; for example New Guard: Volume 5, Issue 3 from 1961 says on p. 312 "Someone once said that if the facts do not fit the theory, then the facts must be changed", while Product engineering: Volume 29, Issues 9-12 from 1958 gives the slight variant on p. 9 "There is an age-old adage, 'If the facts don't fit the theory, change the theory.' But too often it's easier to keep the theory and change the facts." These quotes are themselves probably variants of an even earlier saying which used the phrasing "so much the worse for the facts", many examples of which can be seen in this search ; for example, the 1851 American Whig Review, Volumes 13-14 says on p. 488 "However, Mr. Newhall may possibly have been of that casuist's opinion, who, when told that the facts of the matter did not bear out his hypothesis, said 'So much the worse for the facts.'" The German idealist philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte circa 1800 did say "If theory conflicts with the facts, so much the worse for the facts." The Hungarian Marxist Georg Lukacs in his "Tactics and Ethics" (1923) echoed the same quotation.
  • Commonly quoted on the internet, and also in recent books such as Planetary Survival Manual by Matthew Stein (2000), p. 51.
  • Stein's book is the earliest published source located with that precise version of the quote, but the quote can be found in earlier Usenet posts such as this one from 1995 , and other published variants of the quote using the words "sacred gift" can be found earlier. A Google Books search with the date range restricted to 1900-1990 shows only a handful in the 1980s and 1970s, and several of them attribute it to The Metaphoric Mind by Bob Samples (1976), which also seems to be the earliest published variant. Samples does not provide an exact quote, but writes on p. 26: "Albert Einstein called the intuitive or metaphoric mind a sacred gift. He added that the rational mind was a faithful servant. It is paradoxical that in the context of modern life we have begun to worship the servant and defile the divine." It seems as if the last sentence about worshipping the servant is just Samples' own comment (though in later variants it became part of the supposed quote), while the earlier sentences only paraphrase something that Samples claims Einstein to have said. Einstein had many quotes about the value of intuition and imagination, but the specific word "gift" can be found in a comment remembered by János Plesch in the section Attributed in posthumous publications , "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 my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." So, Bob Samples might have been paraphrasing that comment. Likewise Einstein had a number of quotes about the intellect being secondary to intuition, but the language of the intellect "serving" can be found in a quote from the Out of My Later Years (1950) section, "And certainly we should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. It cannot lead, it can only serve; and it is not fastidious in its choice of a leader."
  • Commonly quoted on the internet, this quote is actually from Karl Grossman, via his 1980 book Cover Up: What You are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power (p. 155; freely available online via its publisher ; see PDF page 187).
  • Variant: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind then what are we to think of an empty desk?
  • Variant: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?
  • Attributed to Dr. Laurence J. Peter . Earliest source is "Peter's Quotations," page 333.
  • According to Barbara Wolff, of The Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archives, this is not one of Einstein's identifiable quotations. (Source: paralegalpie.com .)
  • The phrase "the only source of knowledge is experience" is found in an English-language essay from 1896: "We can only be guided by what we know, and our only source of knowledge is experience" (Arthur J. Pillsbury, " "The Final Word" , Overland Monthly , November 1896). The thought can be seen as a paraphrase of John Locke's argument from his Essay Concerning Human Understanding : "Whence has it [the Mind] all the materials of Reason and Knowledge? To this I answer, in one Word, From Experience ". (Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding/Book II/Chapter I, 2 .)
  • The phrase "information is not knowledge" is also found from the nineteenth century .
  • As Quote Investigator explains, allegories about animals doing impossible things have been incredibly popular in the past century. But no, this one isn't from Einstein. (Source: [12] .)
  • There's no evidence that Einstein ever said this. (Source: [13] .)
  • The anthropologist Ashley Montagu said it in an interview with Einstein. (Source: [14] .)
  • Found anonymously in newspaper columns from the early 1920s . Originally presented in dialogue format : "Dorcas—"Do you ever allow a man to kiss you when you're out motoring with him? Philippa—"Never, if a man can drive safely while kissing me he's not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."
  • It does not seem to have been attributed to Einstein until the 1990s (e.g. here ).
  • Google shows that the internet often attributes this statement to Einstein, but never with a source. It does not occur in any book in Google Books.
  • An abbreviated version of a quote by California politician Dianne Feinstein , from an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine in October 1985 , on the topic of women running for public office. The original was: "... I really do have staying power. That's important for women who run for office. When you get in there and push for a lot of new things all at once and don't get them, you don't just leave. You have to commit, be a team player, learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play it better than anyone else."
  • The original: "Example is not the main thing. It is the only thing. That is, if the one giving the example is not saying to himself, 'Behold I am giving an example." That spoils it. Anyone thinking of the example he will give to others has lost his simplicity. Only as a man has simplicity can his example influence others" is a quote by Albert Schweitzer , from a 1952 interview in United Nations World magazine . Not attributed to Einstein until the 1990s .
  • debunked in 2014
  • Quote from a deepfaked video of Albert Einstein in a British advert for electricity meters
  • Imaginary quote from a deepfaked photograph of Albert Einstein in a British advert for electricity meters

"Never Share These Five Things with Anyone" misattributions on youtube [ edit ]

This has been repeated on many many youtube videos (one of them has over 2.5 million views: 5 Things Never Share With Anyone ( Albert Einstein )   ) under various titles but often with a "5 things" and "share" (never) theme. All five quotes are falsely attributed to Albert Einstein and elaborated on in the videos with short explanations. The 5 quotes don't seem to be misattributions found separately, they usually appear as a set as follows or in similar variation: "Never share: 1) the secret of your success 2) don't share your problems with anyone 3) Don't share your dreams with anyone. 4) Do not share with anyone how much you earn 5) Don't share your family problems with anyone"

Quotes about Einstein [ edit ]

we can not solve problems

  • Joseph Agassi , Radiation Theory and the Quantum Revolution (1993)
  • Stanislav Andreski , The Social Sciences as Sorcery (1972, London: Deutsch), p 86
  • Bettina Aptheker Tapestries of Life: Women's Work, Women's Consciousness, and the Meaning of Daily Experience (1989)
  • Ernest Barnes , as quoted by Gerald James Whitrow , The Structure of the Universe: An Introduction to Cosmology (1949)
  • Louis de Broglie , New Perspectives in Physics , p. 182
  • Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man (1974), Ch. 7: The Majestic Clockwork
  • John Brooke , as quoted in "Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear" in The Guardian (13 May 2008)
  • Alice Calaprice & Trevor Lipscombe, Albert Einstein: A Biography (2005)
  • Sylvia Cranston HPB - The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement (New York: Putnam, 1994), p. 557-558.
  • A. D'Abro, The Evolution of Scientific Thought from Newton to Einstein (1927) p. 37
  • Paul Davies , Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe is Just Right for Life (2007)
  • Ann Druyan , Cosmos: Possible Worlds (2020)
  • Freeman Dyson , Disturbing the Universe (1979), p. 62.
  • Freeman Dyson , Infinite in All Directions : Gifford Lectures given at Aberdeen, Scotland April-November 1985 (1988) p. 7 (paperback, 1989).
  • Freeman Dyson , The Scientist As Rebel (2006)
  • Freeman Dyson, "Birds and Frogs" (Oct. 4, 2008) AMS Einstein Public Lecture in Mathematics, as published in Notices of the AMS , (Feb, 2009). Also published in The Best Writing on Mathematics: 2010 (2011) p. 57.
  • Freeman Dyson , "Einstein as a Jew and a Philosopher", The New York Review of Books (May 7, 2015)
  • Patricia Fara , Science A Four Thousand Year History (2009)
  • Graham Farmelo , " Bright life clouded by dark matter " (September 25, 2008)
  • Richard Feynman , 1962-63, in Feynman Lectures on Gravitation (1995), Lecture 7
  • Richard Feynman , interview published in Superstrings: A Theory of Everything? (1988) edited by Paul C. W. Davies and Julian R. Brown
  • Richard Feynman , as quoted in Collective Electrodynamics : Quantum Foundations of Electromagnetism (2002) by Carver A. Mead, p. xix
  • Karen C. Fox, Aries Keck, Einstein A to Z (2004)
  • Steven Gimbel, " Five reasons we should celebrate Albert Einstein " (12 June 2015)
  • Domenico Giulini and Norbert Straumann, "Einstein's impact on the physics of the twentieth century", Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37 (2006)
  • Sheldon Glashow , interview published in Superstrings: A Theory of Everything? (1988) edited by Paul C. W. Davies and Julian R. Brown
  • John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin, Annus Mirabilis: 1905, Albert Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity (2005)
  • " David Gross " interview, Superstrings: A Theory of Everything? (1992) ed. P.C.W. Davies, Julian Brown
  • David Gross, "Einstein and the Search for Unification" , p. 1, in The legacy of Albert Einstein: a collection of essays in celebration of the year of physics (2007)
  • Stephen Hawking , Lecture at the Amsterdam Symposium on Gravity, Black Holes, and String Theory (June 21, 1997)
  • Gerald Holton , The Advancement of Science, and its Burdens (1986) p. 29.
  • Sabine Hossenfelder, " Einstein's greatest legacy- How demons and angels advanced science " (October 27, 2014)
  • Walter Isaacson , (December 2009)" How Einstein divided America's Jews ". The Atlantic 304 (5): 70–74. (quote from p. 70)
  • Michio Kaku , Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension (1995)
  • John Maynard Keynes , The New Statesman and Nation, 21 October 1933, published in Collected Writings volume xxviii pages 21-22
  • Cornelius Lanczos, Albert Einstein and the Cosmic World Order (1965)
  • Frederick Lindemann , obituary article in The Daily Telegraph , quoted in Lord Birkenhead, The Prof in Two Worlds: The Official Life of Professor F. A. Lindemann, Viscount Cherwell (1961), pp. 161-162
  • Ralph Linton , The Study of Man (1936)
  • W. H. McCrea , as quoted by G. J. Whitrow , Einstein, the Man and His Achievement (1973)
  • Randall Munroe, " The Space Doctor's Big Idea " (Nov 18, 2015)
  • Robert Oppenheimer in: Albert Einstein , The New York Review of Books.
  • Barry Parker, Einstein's Dream: The Search for a Unified Theory of the Universe (1986)
  • Barry Parker, Einstein's Dream: The Search for a Unified Theory of the Universe (1986) referring to the Einstein field equations of general relativity.
  • Max Planck (with Walther Nernst, Heinrich Rubens and Emil Warburg ), (1913) letter of recommendation for membership in the Prussian Academy of Sciences (1913) Collected Papers of Albert Einstein (CPAE) Vol. 5, Doc. 445 (1993)
  • Wolfgang Pauli , in statements after the Solvay Conference of 1927, as quoted in Physics and Beyond (1971) by Werner Heisenberg
  • Wolfgang Pauli , Letter to Max Born (March 31, 1954) as quoted by P.W. Milonni, Fast Light, Slow Light and Left-Handed Light (2004)
  • Karl Popper , in Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography , p. 148
  • John S. Rigden, Einstein 1905 : The Standard of Greatness (2005), Prologue: The Standard of Greatness: Why Einstein?
  • Edward G. Robinson , as quoted in Leonard Spigelgass's epilogue to Robinson's All My Yesterdays: An Autobiography (1973), p. 279
  • Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner, Quantum enigma : physics encounters consciousness (2nd ed., 2011), Ch. 1 : Einstein Called It "Spooky" And I Wish I Had Known
  • Carlo Rovelli , The Order of Time (2018) p. 11.
  • Muriel Rukeyser The Life of Poetry (1949)
  • Bertrand Russell , Do Governments Desire War? (1932), a newspaper article for the "New York American" (as quoted in Mortals and Others , v.1, 1975)
  • Bertrand Russell , in an interview with David Susskind (10 June 1962)
  • Dennis Sciama , Interview of Dennis Sciama by Spencer Weart on 1978 April 14, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA .
  • William Shatner , William Shatner And Lawrence Krauss Go To School . YouTube ( April 28, 2023 ). (quote at 50:02 of 1:34:32 in video; The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss )
  • J. C. Squire , in "In continuation of Pope on Newton" (1926); Squire is here extending upon the famous statement of Alexander Pope :
  • As quoted in The Epigrammatists : A Selection from the Epigrammatic Literature of Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern Times (1875) by Henry Philip Dodd, p. 329
  • George Bernard Shaw , in a speech in honour of Einstein at the Savoy Hotel in London (28 October 1930)
  • George Bernard Shaw , dinner speech, Savoy Hotel, London (Oct28, 1930) as quoted by Michael Holroyd , "Albert Einstein, Universe Maker," The New York Times (Mar14, 1991); Ref "axioms," see Julio A. Gonzalo, The Intelligible Universe (2008)
  • Lee Smolin , " The Other Einstein ", The New York Review of Books (June 14, 2007)
  • A. Douglas Stone, Einstein and the Quantum (2013), Introduction: A Hundred Times More Than Relativity Theory
  • Ernst G. Strauss , in reminiscences of 1982, as quoted in "Gödel's Life and Work", by Solomon Feferman , in Kurt Gödel: Collected Works, Volume I : Publications 1929-1936 (1986), p. 2
  • Studs Terkel , as quoted in "Voice of America" in The Guardian (1 March 2002)
  • Eckhart Tolle , in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (2005)
  • Diana Trilling Reviewing the Forties (1974)
  • Heinrich Friedrich Weber, quoted in Seelig, Albert Einstein
  • Attributed to Chaim Weizmann , after a long trans-Atlantic journey; Simpson's Contemporary Quotations (6822) credits Nigel Calder , Einstein's Universe (1979); a slightly different version appears in David Bodanis , E=mc² , which credits Carl Seelig, Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography (1956), pp. 80–81
  • Hermann Weyl , Space—Time—Matter (1922) Preface to 1st Edition (1918)
  • Hermann Weyl , Space—Time—Matter (1922) p. 102
  • John Archibald Wheeler , interviewed in Cosmic Search , Vol. 1, No. 4 ( Fall 1979 ). The three principles are sometimes attributed to Einstein himself, but no source can be found showing that Einstein stated them, and Wheeler didn't indicate in the interview whether he was quoting something Einstein had told him or giving his own description of how Einstein worked.
  • Gerald James Whitrow , The Structure of the Universe: An Introduction to Cosmology (1949)
  • Eugene Wigner , The Recollections of Eugene P. Wigner (1992), Ch. 10. It Is Far Better to Have a Good Marriage Than a Quarrel
  • Frank Wilczek & Betsy Devine , Longing for the Harmonies: Themes and Variations from Modern Physics (1987)
  • Edward Witten , (22 December 2005)" Unravelling string theory ". Nature 438 (7071). DOI : 10.1038/4381085a .
  • Working Class History (2020)
  • Eliezer Yudkowsky , " Einstein's Speed " (21 May 2008)

See also [ edit ]

  • Albert Einstein and politics
  • Annus Mirabilis papers
  • EPR paradox
  • On the Method of Theoretical Physics , Einstein's Herbert Spencer lecture at Oxford (June 10, 1933).
  • The Meaning of Relativity (1922 book consisting of an English translation of four lectures given by Einstein in German at Princeton University in May 1921; with several subsequent editions)
  • Theory of relativity
  • Unified field theory
  • Why Socialism?
  • Bohr–Einstein debates

External links [ edit ]

  • Collected Papers of Albert Einstein from Princeton University Press, in conjunction with the California Institute of Technology and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Official Einstein ® website
  • Einstein at the American Institute of Physics
  • Einstein at the American Museum of Natural History
  • NOVA : Einstein Revealed at PBS
  • The Nobel Prize in Physics 1921 — Albert Einstein
  • Profile at the University of St Andrews, Scotland
  • Einstein on Science and Religion
  • Juergen Schmidhuber's Einstein biographical highlights
  • Einstein's letter to Roosevelt
  • Einstein family pictures
  • Einstein's wife: Mileva Maric
  • Albert Einstein Biography from "German-American corner: History and Heritage"
  • Einstein Timeline
  • Albert Einstein Archive at the University of Jerusalem
  • Einstein Papers Project at Caltech (California Institute of Techology)
  • Living Einstein at the Max Planck Institute
  • Albert Einstein Online - a comprehensive listing of online resources about Einstein.
  • Audio excerpts of famous speeches: e=mc2 & relativity , Impossibility of atomic energy , arms race (From Time magazine archives)
  • Albert Einstein: The World as I see it .
  • Albert Einstein: Why Socialism?
  • Theory of relativity in 4-letter words or shorter
  • Einstein and Religion (1999) by Max Jammer ( PDF document )
  • "Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear" in The Guardian (13 May 2008)
  • ↑ https://bcf.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Combined-Slides-4.pdf

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Quotespedia.org

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. – Albert Einstein

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein

We need to understand that in order to make sure that we are able to solve our problems , we need to change our own perception and make sure that we do not have the same thinking while solving that we had at the time of creating the same problem.

We must always open to take up challenges in a sporting way and thus, try to figure out the solution to it. If we do not change the outlook, how can we expect the problem to be solved, isn’t it?

We need to make sure that instead of nagging over the same problem, again and again, we need to make sure that we are able to decode the reason behind the problem so that we can figure out what is needed to be done in order to solve it.

We need to have a mentality wherein we might have to change our perspective of looking at the same thing at different times in order to make sure that we are able to find a particular solution at the end of the day.

We should have the ability to find the reason behind a problem, and only if we figure it out, we would be able to solve those things way more easily.

Just as if a particular path doesn’t work out, we usually change the path, isn’t it? In the same way, if things don’t work out in a way, we need to understand that probably that’s when we should be trying out an alternative to it.

We must always try to work out with different paths so that it becomes easier for us to figure out things much more quickly. We must also make sure that we are not losing our patience for that is one of the greatest things we could ever have!

Related Quotes:

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. - Albert Einstein

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Kyle Austin Young

How to Handle a Problem You Can’t Solve

Finding a solution is only one way to proactively respond to problems..

Posted July 22, 2021 | Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster

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  • The difference between a big problem and a small problem is the amount of risk we’re exposed to.
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  • Sometimes it's more productive to eliminate, shrink, or delegate a problem than it is to solve it.

After returning from a 12-month deployment in Iraq, Patrick Skluzacek began to experience horrible nightmares. Veterans Affairs didn’t have a cure. Afraid to close his eyes, Patrick turned to alcohol to help himself sleep. As his drinking and mental health grew worse, he went on to lose his job, his wife, and even his home.

Patrick’s son Tyler was desperate to help. But he wasn’t a psychologist or a sleep expert. He was just a college student studying mathematics and computer science. So rather than trying to heal his father from the effects of trauma, Tyler decided to look for a way to prevent the nightmares from happening.

Using his programming skills, Tyler developed a smartwatch app that monitored his father’s heart rate and movement during sleep to spot nightmares early. The app then prompted the watch to vibrate gently, coaxing Patrick out of bad dreams without completely waking him.

With the help of his son’s invention, Patrick has once again lived a normal life.

Thankfully, most of us have never had to watch a parent struggle with post- traumatic stress disorder, but we’ve all faced problems that felt too big to solve–in our professional lives as well as at home. The experience of the Skluzaceks, both father and son, illustrates some strategies you might employ the next time you’re up against what feels like an impossible dilemma.

1. If you can’t solve a problem, look for ways to eliminate it.

Problems live inside systems, and one way to get rid of a problem is to eliminate the system it belongs to. Tyler never found a cure for his dad’s PTSD . He simply found a way to interrupt his father’s nightmares, preventing them from happening again.

In an organizational context, we can usually wipe out problems that seem unsolvable by replacing troublesome staff, software, or policies. But new research out of the University of Virginia has found that our brains often overlook these “subtractive solutions”— tunneling instead on what might be added to improve a situation.

2. If you can’t eliminate a problem, look for ways to shrink it.

The difference between a big problem and a small problem is the amount of risk we’re exposed to. So if you can’t fix the cause, try to reduce the effects. For example, certain positions in your company might be inherently stressful , posing the threat of high burnout rates. If you can’t find a way to modify the positions to make them less demanding, an alternative might be to offer more vacation days or free massage therapy sessions to the affected individuals. The root problem will still exist, but it will have a smaller negative impact on your organization.

3. See if you can delegate the problem to someone else.

As Tyler’s story illustrates, sometimes we are our own best options. But in many cases, we can turn to others for help. A surprising number of leaders are comfortable delegating tasks but never think to delegate problems. Doing so can free up your time and empower your colleagues to make a bigger impact. Plus, most problems are easier to solve with a fresh perspective, making a handoff even more advantageous.

4. Ask yourself what insight would make the problem easier to solve.

If you can’t solve a problem, it might be indicative of a gap in your expertise. That’s perfectly normal. The key is simply to pinpoint what those gaps are. To do so, try filling in this sentence:

I would be able to solve this problem if only I knew…

we can not solve problems

Once you’ve identified the gaps in your knowledge, brainstorm ways to find reliable answers, colleagues might be a useful resource, and consulting is often an effective option. If your timeline and budget don’t allow for consulting, on-demand online trainings are another way to expand your understanding, and a surprising number of experts offer these virtual courses.

5. Question whether you actually need to solve the problem right now.

Sometimes, the true cost of a problem is the work it distracts you from. In Tyler’s case, ignoring his father’s nightmares wasn’t an option. But sometimes, procrastinating on one problem allows you to be more productive in other areas. If you’re facing a dilemma that seems unsolvable, try asking yourself if fixing it is really your best opportunity for personal growth or organizational contribution at that moment. Will you incur any high costs by waiting to tackle the issue?

Challenges don’t always have an obvious cure, but you can still respond intentionally and productively. In fact, knowing what to do with tough dilemmas is a skill that sets great leaders apart. After all, difficult decisions are one of the primary responsibilities great leaders get paid to handle.

Kyle Austin Young

Kyle Young is a strategy consultant and writer who works to help people achieve their goals.

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we can not solve problems

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

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What's the meaning of this quote?

Quote Meaning: This quote emphasizes the need for innovation and new perspectives in problem-solving. This quote suggests that the solutions to our problems cannot be found by using the same approach that caused the problem in the first place. It encourages individuals to be open-minded, creative, and think outside of the box to come up with new solutions and ideas.

Quote Meaning in Detail: This quote suggests that to effectively solve our problems, we need to shift our perspectives or approach from the one that led to the problem in the first place. The underlying principle is that if our current mindset or way of thinking contributed to a problem, it's unlikely to provide an effective solution.

we can not solve problems

This might involve challenging our assumptions, questioning our beliefs, or seeking new information. Essentially, it requires us to grow and adapt, cultivating new ways of thinking that allow us to see our challenges in a new light and find innovative solutions.

This quote highlights the importance of flexibility and adaptability in problem-solving. It encourages us to recognize when our thinking might be hindering us and to be open to changing our mindset in order to overcome obstacles and resolve issues.

Who said the quote?

The quote "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." was said by Albert Einstein ( Bio / Quotes ) . Albert Einstein was a German physicist and Nobel Prize winner who is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists in history.

Is there a historical example that illustrates the message of the quote?

To illustrate the message of this quote, let's look at a historical example from the field of medicine: the discovery of antibiotics and the revolution they brought in the treatment of infectious diseases.

Prior to the advent of antibiotics in the early 20th century, bacterial infections were a significant cause of illness and death. Traditional treatment methods included procedures like amputation or the use of antiseptics, which were often ineffective and had limited success rates.

In the 1920s, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming made a remarkable discovery that would change the course of medicine. While studying bacteria, he noticed that a mold called Penicillium notatum had contaminated one of his petri dishes and was inhibiting bacterial growth around it. This serendipitous observation led Fleming to hypothesize that the mold was producing a substance that could kill bacteria.

Fleming's discovery laid the groundwork for the development of antibiotics, which are now widely used to treat bacterial infections. This breakthrough was a paradigm shift in medical thinking, as it introduced a completely new approach to combating infectious diseases.

The quote by Einstein resonates in this context because the traditional methods of treating infections were insufficient and ineffective. The same thinking that had created the problem of widespread bacterial infections could not provide a solution. It took a fresh perspective, represented by Fleming's observation and subsequent investigation, to bring about a breakthrough in medical science.

The discovery of antibiotics illustrates the importance of innovative thinking and the willingness to challenge established norms and beliefs. By adopting a new approach and thinking beyond the existing methods, Fleming was able to solve a problem that had plagued humanity for centuries.

This historical example demonstrates that when faced with complex problems, it is necessary to step outside of our familiar frameworks and explore new avenues of thinking. By embracing new perspectives, we open ourselves to the possibility of finding innovative solutions and overcoming the challenges that our previous thinking may have inadvertently created.

How can the quote be applied in a real-life scenario?

The quote "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them" by Albert Einstein emphasizes the importance of adopting new perspectives and approaches when facing challenges. In real-life scenarios, this quote can be applied in various ways to promote effective problem-solving and personal growth:

1. Problem-Solving: When encountering difficulties or obstacles, individuals should avoid being stuck in repetitive or ineffective thinking patterns that contributed to the problem's creation. Instead, they should seek fresh insights and alternative solutions to address the issue effectively.

we can not solve problems

2. Conflict Resolution: In conflicts or disagreements, trying to resolve the situation with the same mindset that led to the conflict may lead to further misunderstandings. By embracing a more open and empathetic perspective, individuals can find common ground and work towards a resolution.

3. Personal Development: The quote encourages individuals to recognize and challenge their limiting beliefs and behaviors that might hinder personal growth. Embracing new perspectives and seeking self-improvement can lead to positive transformations in one's life.

4. Innovation and Creativity: In business and creative endeavors, adopting the same old thinking can inhibit progress and hinder innovation. Embracing a culture of innovation and encouraging fresh ideas can lead to breakthroughs and success.

5. Adaptability: The quote highlights the importance of adaptability in an ever-changing world. Staying flexible and open to new ways of thinking can help individuals navigate uncertainties and challenges effectively.

6. Learning from Mistakes: Rather than dwelling on past mistakes, the quote encourages individuals to learn from them and adjust their approach moving forward. Embracing a growth mindset allows for continuous improvement and resilience.

7. Social and Global Issues: On a larger scale, addressing complex social or global problems may require new perspectives and collaborative efforts. Fostering innovation and promoting dialogue can lead to more sustainable and impactful solutions.

8. Leadership: Effective leaders recognize the need for fresh thinking and seek diverse perspectives from their teams. By encouraging an environment of creativity and open communication, leaders can inspire transformative change.

In summary, the quote "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them" calls for embracing new perspectives, innovative ideas, and open-mindedness in various aspects of life. By challenging old thinking patterns and being receptive to change, individuals and societies can overcome challenges, foster growth, and find creative solutions to complex problems.

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we can not solve problems

Albert Einstein Quote

We cannot solve the problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them

"Einstein's famous saying in Copenhagen", as quoted in a FBIS Daily Report: East Europe (4 April 1995), p. 45 - Einstein and Religion (1999)

We cannot solve the problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them

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Albert Einstein: “We Cannot Solve Our Problems with the Same Thinking We Used When We Created Them”

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we can not solve problems

Why Are Albert Einstein Quotes So Inspirational

Born in Germany in 1879, as a young man Albert Einstein would also live in Italy and Switzerland, studying at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich between 1896 and 1901, per the official site of The Nobel Prize, which Einstein would win in the field of physics in 1921. Before that, he had not only taught at many renowned universities around Europe but, among other work in math and physics, he had developed his famous Special Theory of Relativity. It fundamentally changed the approach to physical science that had held sway since the era of Sir Isaac Newton some 200 years prior.

Having resettled in Germany in 1914, only to emigrate from the country forever in 1933 given the rise of Hitler, Einstein would spend the last 22 years of his life living and working in America. He died in Princeton, New Jersey in 1955.

Einstein achieved more in his life than most of us could do in five lifetimes. His brilliance and his successes are so unparalleled that he’s a purely inspirational figure, not an aspirational one. Few among us seek to compare themselves to Einstein, in other words.

Part of the reason so many of his quotes are so inspiring is that this man played such an instrumental role in history and is so widely renowned for his intelligence, but the operative here is that Einstein nonetheless comes across as relatable.

Albert Einstein famously said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” In turbulent, uncertain, novel, and ambiguous (TUNA) times, one skill that will never go out of reckoning is problem-solving.

The good news is that problem solvers are made, not born. There are some common characteristics of great problem solvers that could be transferred to most situations. Let’s explore three tips that you can use for yourself and your teams to solve better, bigger, and bolder problems around you.

  • Are you solving the right problems?

It’s critical to understand the problem well. Thomas Wedell, author of What’s Your Problem? provides a simple yet strong outline for defining the right problem. He advises framing and reframing the problem before moving forward. Framing involves simply defining the problem that we are trying to solve. The reframing stage brings the magic out by focusing on different ways to see the problem. It encourages looking outside the frame and rethinking the goal. It examines the circumstances and inherent biases and takes external perspectives during the reframing of the problem.

Today, some organizations are grappling with the problem of employees’ reluctance to return to their offices. The organizations that have reframed this issue and are focusing on their productivity culture seem to have done better in regards to employee engagement and their bottom lines. The holistic approach of reframing clarifies the right problems and helps prevent everyone from barking up the wrong tree.

  • Learn to see the forest through trees for best problem-solving.

If one has a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Don’t limit your ability to find solutions because of your expertise. Once you have identified the right problem, build a diverse perspective about the solution by being open-minded. Bring in diverse ideas and teams, and break silos to connect the dots through cross-collaboration across the disciplines.

I see Branson, Bezos, and Musk’s quest to venture into space as one of the best examples of thinking out-of-the-box solutions for wicked problems. All three are solving different problems with the same solution. Branson wants to reduce the time taken for business travel, Bezos is exploring a solution to the world’s energy supply crisis, and Musk is out to build Mars settlements to solve over-crowding on Earth. You could imagine the rich diversity of ideas, open-mindedness, and cross-collaboration required to bring these solutions from dreams to reality.

McKinsey veteran Robert McLean and entrepreneur Charles Conn, co-authors of Bulletproof Problem Solving, recommend a cyclical process of defining, disaggregating (break), prioritizing, work planning, analyzing, synthesizing, and communicating. All the steps in the process are equally important, but the analysis is where we can get the best possible solutions by keeping an open mind with blue-sky thinking.

  • Use “thinking, fast and slow” as a litmus test for your outcomes.

Daniel Kahneman, Nobel laureate and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, explains we have two minds within our brains. Fast thinking (system one) is unconscious and automatic, and slow thinking (system two) is conscious and deliberative. If not trained well, system-two thinking is lazy and supports the unconscious system one. This understanding has great relevance to problem-solving skills. You need to consciously practice turning your slow thinking into critical, cogent, and methodical to look for missing information, test your hypothesis, and use tools to make sense of a situation.

Before announcing your solution to the problem, it’s important to check the rigor of your analysis and recommended solutions. The above litmus test helps ensures that there is clarity, transparency, and fairness in your recommended approach.

Problem-solving is the greatest enabler for growth and opportunity. Embrace it by identifying the right problems, solving them by being open-minded, and testing them before you implement them to make the world a better place.

  • https://youtu.be/GuEzkDvHPv4
  • https://www.goalcast.com/why-albert-einstein-inspirational/
  • https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2021/08/17/three-tips-for-problem-solving-in-uncertain-times/?sh=55ca10b93654
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Explained: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

In the profound words of Albert Einstein:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Albert Einstein Quote: We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

It's human nature to rely on what we know, to draw from past experiences and apply similar solutions to new problems. Yet, herein lies the crux of the matter—we cannot expect a different outcome by employing identical thinking patterns that birthed the issue. Our limitations, whether they stem from a lack of understanding, creativity , or fear , act as the genesis of our problems.

Therefore, the pathway to resolution demands a departure from conventional thinking. It beckons us to venture into the unknown, to challenge the boundaries of our imagination , and to discard the limitations that confine our perspectives. Embracing this shift compels us to think outside the proverbial box, or better yet, discard the box altogether—a liberating invitation to explore uncharted territories of thought.

Picture this : the solution may be right before your eyes, obscured only by the veil of trepidation. Fear, one of the most common constraints we face, often leads us down familiar, self-defeating paths. It entices us to remain within the confines of what we know, inhibiting our ability to tread upon new avenues of possibility.

In these moments, the power of prayer and a leap of faith emerges as invaluable tools. They furnish the courage to transcend our limitations, encouraging us to dismantle the barriers that hinder our progress. Prayer, in its essence, is not solely an act of supplication; it is a communion with the vast expanse of the unknown, a surrender to forces beyond our immediate comprehension. Coupled with a leap of faith, it empowers us to surmount the shackles of fear and embrace the uncharted territories of novel solutions.

The wisdom embedded within Einstein's words isn't confined to a mere intellectual understanding ; it resonates on a deeper level, inviting us to embark on a transformative journey. This journey entails a profound shift in consciousness—an elevation from stagnant patterns of thought to an expansive realm of limitless possibilities .

By embracing this mindset shift, we unlock the potential for innovation, creativity, and ingenuity. It's a conscious choice to abandon the safety of familiarity and venture into the realms of uncertainty, where the seeds of groundbreaking solutions await our discovery.

Consider the innovators, the trailblazers, and the visionaries who dared to defy the status quo. Their triumphs were not rooted in conformity but sprouted from the seeds of audacious thinking—the willingness to challenge conventional wisdom and embrace the unknown.

5 Steps to Solve Problems – Inspired by Albert Einstein

Now, let's delve deeper into this transformative philosophy and explore practical ways to implement this paradigm shift in our lives. Here are some actionable steps to facilitate a departure from restrictive thinking and embrace a more expansive mindset:

  • Embrace Curiosity: Cultivate a mindset of curiosity and exploration. Challenge yourself to question the norms and explore unconventional avenues that lie beyond the familiar.
  • Embrace Failure as a Stepping Stone : Shift your perception of failure. View it not as a setback but as a stepping stone toward innovation. Each stumble presents an opportunity to learn, adapt, and evolve.
  • Foster Creativity: Engage in activities that foster creativity, whether it's painting, writing, or engaging in brainstorming sessions. Creativity unlocks new perspectives and fuels innovative thinking.
  • Seek Diverse Perspectives: Surround yourself with individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Embracing varied viewpoints enriches your own perspective and opens doors to novel solutions.
  • Practice Mindfulness and Prayer: Cultivate mindfulness through practices such as meditation or prayer. These practices offer clarity of thought, enabling you to transcend limiting beliefs and tap into intuitive insights .

By incorporating these practices into our lives, we embark on a journey of self-discovery and transcendence. We evolve from problem-solvers constrained by familiar limitations to visionaries unbounded by conventional constraints. The journey toward embracing a new way of thinking is transformative, empowering us to unravel solutions that lie beyond the confines of our current understanding.

The wisdom encapsulated in Einstein's words serves as a guiding beacon, urging us to shed the shackles of limiting thought patterns. Embracing a paradigm shift in our approach to problem-solving isn't just a call for change; it's an invitation to embark on a transcendent journey—a journey toward boundless creativity, innovation, and the discovery of solutions that await in the unexplored realms of our consciousness .

As we tread upon this transformative path, may we embrace the unknown, nurture our curiosity, and dare to venture beyond the constraints of conventional thinking. For it is in this bold exploration that we discover the keys to unlocking a world brimming with ingenious solutions to life's myriad challenges .

Personal Reflection Questions

Here are 10 questions you can use to go deeper with the teachings in Albert Einstein's quote:

  • In the echo of Einstein's words, can you reflect on instances in your life where you attempted to solve problems using the same thinking that contributed to their creation?
  • Consider the familiar patterns of thought that guide your responses to challenges. How might these patterns limit your ability to find innovative and transformative solutions?
  • Explore the role of fear in your decision-making process. How has fear influenced you to stay within the confines of what you know, preventing you from exploring new possibilities?
  • Picture the metaphorical box that confines your thinking. What steps can you take to either think outside this box or discard it altogether, embracing the freedom to explore uncharted territories of thought?
  • Reflect on moments when you faced self-defeating paths due to fear. How might the combination of prayer and a leap of faith empower you to dismantle barriers and move towards novel solutions?
  • Delve into the concept of prayer not just as an act of supplication but as a communion with the unknown. How might this perspective enhance your ability to confront challenges with courage and surrender to forces beyond immediate comprehension?
  • Consider the shift from stagnant patterns of thought to a realm of limitless possibilities. How does this shift resonate with your own journey of consciousness and personal growth?
  • Reflect on the power of innovation, creativity, and ingenuity. In what ways can you consciously choose to abandon the safety of familiarity and venture into the uncertainty where groundbreaking solutions await discovery?
  • Think about individuals who defied the status quo and embraced audacious thinking. How might their triumphs inspire you to challenge conventional wisdom in your own life?
  • Now, as you explore practical steps inspired by Einstein's philosophy, consider how each step resonates with your own journey. How can you actively incorporate curiosity, viewing failure as a stepping stone, fostering creativity, seeking diverse perspectives, and practicing mindfulness into your problem-solving approach?
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My favourite einstein quote and why it matters.

we can not solve problems

One of the biggest challenges for financial planners and advisers is getting stuck on a plateau they cannot seem to move past.

Can you think of a recurring problem or limitation in your business.

Maybe it is?

*Getting new clients

*Working only with the right clients

*Hitting an income plateau

*Getting bogged down with administrative work

*Boredom with the way you are doing things

Imagine what your life would be like having finally transcended the problem and you are now experiencing all the rewards for doing so.

Why do some problems keep recurring?

The primary reason is that it seems as though the difficulty is contained within the problem itself.

For instance, if I believe that “It is hard to get new clients”, what happens?

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I will find myself spending a great deal of time, effort, and mental energy chasing my tail.

So, how do you get past this?

My favourite Einstein quote

There are few true geniuses, past or present, but Albert Einstein was certainly in that category. 

Apart from being one of the most influential scientists of all time his insights into how the human mind works were extraordinary too.

My favourite Einstein quote is:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”

To me, he is saying that it is inconceivable that we could find the answers we need on the same level of consciousness in which we see something as a problem.

Yet is this not the very reason we get stuck? 

We keep looking for answers in the wrong place or rather in state of mind that we are highly unlikely to see something new. 

A new way of understanding problems

The only time we ever truly transcend a problem is when we get new, fresh thinking about it. In other words, we experience a jump up in consciousness.

Imagine a glass elevator on the side of a very tall building. The view from each floor is different and the higher you go the bigger and broader the view. The view at floor 40 is completely different to floor ten. 

This is like consciousness. The higher your level of consciousness the more perspective you have. 

Something that seemed like a problem at a lower level does not look that way from a higher place and this is what the Einstein quote was pointing to.

With a free and clear mind, without the burden of discouragement, downheartedness, or frustration, you are bringing new eyes to something. 

Develop a healthy respect for the unknown

A successful business consultant friend of mine shared how he approaches problems.

He said that if he wants an answer to something and it does not come to him in about thirty seconds, he just lets the subject drift out of his mind.

His logic is that if he knew the answer then it would have come to him straight away. He knows that it tends to be when we are not thinking about a problem that we will get an insight, new idea, or flash of inspiration.

He is happy in the unknown because he understands how the system works.

What feeling under pressure really means

Something that transformed the way I approach problems and challenges in my life is how I now understand feelings.

When I feel internal pressure, frustration, impatience, worry, or despair, I know this is not information about my circumstances. 

It is information about my state of mind. In those kinds of feelings, I am not going to have access to new thinking.  

So, instead of thinking harder about the issue, which was what I used to do, I now allow my mind to be clear and reflective.

I have found this so much more effective.

What problem would you love to solve?

You can experiment with any challenge you are facing by stopping thinking about it, allowing your mind to be free, and knowing that you are part of an intelligent system.

I would love to know how you get on.

PS. Does hanging out in the unknown seem scary? Read my blog post ‘The most dangerous word in the English language’. Click here.

  • John Dashfield
  • /   July 20, 2023

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dashfield spent 14 years as a self-employed adviser. Since 2006 he has been a coach, mentor and author helping advisers create transformations in their business and personal lives.

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Quotes for Life

we can not solve problems

We cannot solve our problems…

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“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Author:Albert Eistein

Albert Einstein ( German:  ( listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). Einstein’s work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. Einstein is best known in popular culture for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed “the world’s most famous equation”). He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his “services to theoretical physics”, in particular his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, a pivotal step in the evolution of quantum theory.(Source – Wikipedia)

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AT&T Says Service Is Restored After Widespread Cellular Outage

White House officials said the incident was under investigation, but it did not appear to be a cyberattack. Verizon and T-Mobile said their networks were operating normally.

The AT&T logo.

By Jenny Gross and David McCabe

Jenny Gross reported from London and David McCabe reported from Washington.

AT&T said on Thursday that it had fully restored service to its wireless network after a widespread outage temporarily cut off connections for users across the United States for many hours, the cause of which was still under investigation.

The outage, which affected people in cities including Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York, was first reported around 3:30 a.m. Eastern time, according to Downdetector.com , which tracks user reports of telecommunication and internet disruptions. At its peak, the site listed around 70,000 reports of disrupted service for the wireless carrier.

Multiple government agencies said they were looking into the incident, although the Biden administration told reporters that AT&T said there was no reason to think it was a cyberattack.

AT&T did not disclose the scope of the outage, nor the reason for it. When the outage first began on Thursday morning, the company listed the cause as “maintenance activity.”

Jim Greer, an AT&T spokesman, apologized in a statement confirming service was restored and said the company was “taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future.”

The outage underscored the importance of connectivity to daily life as individuals and businesses were cut off from communications and the ability to use mobile apps. AT&T advised consumers they could make calls over Wi-Fi and sought to respond to angry customers online. Many phones showed an “SOS” symbol on their screen, signaling they could only make emergency calls, while local governments offered alternate ways to reach 911.

Reports of outages on Downdetector began to fall midmorning, and at one point AT&T’s website showed that outages were limited to users in California , though users in other states were still reporting issues. Cricket, which is owned by AT&T, also reported that its users were experiencing wireless service interruptions and said it was working to restore service.

Reports also surfaced early Thursday that FirstNet, the network AT&T maintains for emergency services personnel, had experienced outages, but AT&T said around 10:30 a.m. that the network was fully operational.

Verizon experienced 3,000 reports of outages at one point on Thursday and T-Mobile about half that. Both companies said in statements that their networks were operating normally.

“Some customers experienced issues this morning when calling or texting with customers served by another carrier,” Verizon said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation.”

In an email, T-Mobile said that it did not experience an outage. “Downdetector is likely reflecting challenges our customers were having attempting to connect to users on other networks.”

Officials in Washington said they were working to understand the cause of the outage. A spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission said its inquiry was being handled by its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, which was in touch with AT&T as well as other providers.

John Kirby, a National Security Council spokesman, said on a call with reporters on Thursday that the Biden administration was told “that AT&T has no reason to think this was a cybersecurity incident,” although he added that they would not be certain until an investigation had been completed.

Mr. Kirby said that, in addition to the F.C.C., the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. were collaborating with technology companies to investigate the outage.

The F.B.I. said in a statement it was in touch with AT&T and would respond accordingly if any malicious activity was found.

Throughout the day, cities urged residents to find alternate ways of reaching emergency or municipal services, like landlines or phones connected to Wi-Fi. The City of Upper Arlington, Ohio , said the fire department might not be notified of fire alarms because of the outage. It urged that any fire alarm be followed up with a 911 call.

The San Francisco Fire Department said on social media that it was aware of an issue affecting AT&T users who were trying to call 911. “We are actively engaged and monitoring this,” the fire department said. “If you are an AT&T customer and cannot get through to 911, then please try calling from a landline.”

The Massachusetts State Police said on social media on Thursday morning that 911 call centers across the state had been flooded with calls from people checking to see if the emergency service worked from their phones. “Please do not do this,” the police said. “If you can successfully place a non-emergency call to another number via your cell service then your 911 service will also work.”

Even in less extreme circumstances, the outage complicated the many elements of life that have come to rely on a reliable connection to the internet.

Staff at the First Watch restaurant in Dania Beach, Fla., had to turn away breakfast customers for a time while the outage prevented them from processing payments.

Debra Maddow, who lives in southwest Houston, said that she first noticed something was off after 7 a.m., when she went to check traffic and Google Maps was offline. Later, she visited a Starbucks to make an urgent call through its free Wi-Fi, she said.

“I’m really frustrated that they’re not telling us anything,” Ms. Maddow said in a phone interview over Wi-Fi. She said she tried to call AT&T for an update, but after a long time on hold, the call was dropped.

Victor Mather , John Keefe , Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Adam Goldman contributed reporting.

Jenny Gross is a reporter for The Times in London covering breaking news and other topics. More about Jenny Gross

David McCabe covers tech policy. He joined The Times from Axios in 2019. More about David McCabe

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What does SOS mode on iPhone mean? Symbol appears during AT&T outage Thursday

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Thousands of customers woke up Thursday morning to an SOS symbol at the top of their iPhones and no service due to a nationwide telecommunications outage .

The outages were impacting AT&T customers the most, although services from Verizon, Cricket Wireless and T-Mobile were also affected. It also began to impact essential public services, including people’s ability to call emergency responders.

The outages have continued through Thursday morning, with more than 70,000 AT&T customers reporting outages as of 8:56 a.m. ET, according to Downdetector.com .

What does the SOS symbol mean, and how does it connect to the outage? Here's what to know.

AT&T down: Tens of thousands report AT&T service outage; Verizon and T-Mobile users also claim issues

What does the SOS symbol on the iPhone mean?

During Thursday's outage, an SOS symbol appeared on the screens of iPhone users with AT&T (in the same place where cell service bars are normally shown).

The SOS symbol can appear in the status bar of iPhones and iPads, meaning devices aren't connected to a cellular network. It also means there is a cellular network "available for emergency calls,"  Apple's support website  states.

The SOS feature is available on iPhones and iPads in the U.S., Australia and Canada.

"When you make a call with SOS, your iPhone automatically calls the local emergency number and shares your location information with emergency services," according to Apple. "In some countries and regions, you might need to choose the service that you need.

After making an emergency call, your iPhone alerts any emergency contacts designated in your phone.

Apple says all iPhone models 14 or later can also use Emergency SOS via satellite to text emergency services when no cellular and Wi-Fi coverage is available.

Contributing: Gabe Hauari and Christopher Cann, USA TODAY.

iPhone Battery and Performance

Understand iPhone performance and its relation to your battery.

Your iPhone is designed to be simple and easy to use. This is only possible through a combination of advanced technologies and sophisticated engineering. One important technology area is battery and performance. Batteries are a complex technology, and a number of variables contribute to battery performance and related iPhone performance. All rechargeable batteries are consumables and have a limited lifespan — eventually their capacity and performance decline such that they need to be replaced. Learn more about iPhone batteries and how battery aging can affect iPhone performance.

About lithium-ion batteries

iPhone batteries use lithium-ion technology. Compared with older generations of battery technology, lithium-ion batteries charge faster, last longer, and have a higher power density for more battery life in a lighter package. Rechargeable lithium-ion technology currently provides the best technology for your device. Learn more about lithium-ion batteries .

How to maximize battery performance

“Battery life” is the amount of time a device runs before it needs to be recharged. “Battery lifespan” is the amount of time a battery lasts until it needs to be replaced. One factor affecting battery life and lifespan is the mix of things you do with your device. No matter how you use your device, there are ways to help. A battery’s lifespan is related to its “chemical age,” which is more than just the passage of time. It includes different factors, such as the number of charge cycles and how it was cared for. Follow these tips to maximize battery performance and help extend battery lifespan. For example, keep iPhone half charged when it’s stored for the long term. Also avoid charging or leaving iPhone in hot environments, including direct sun exposure, for extended periods of time.

When batteries chemically age

All rechargeable batteries are consumable components that become less effective as they chemically age.

As lithium-ion batteries chemically age, the amount of charge they can hold diminishes, resulting in shorter amounts of time before a device needs to be recharged. This can be referred to as the battery’s maximum capacity — the measure of battery capacity relative to when it was new. In addition, a battery’s ability to deliver maximum instantaneous performance, or “peak power,” might decrease. For a phone to function properly, the electronics must be able to draw upon instantaneous power from the battery. One attribute that affects this instantaneous power delivery is the battery’s impedance. A battery with a high impedance might be unable to provide sufficient power to the system that needs it. A battery's impedance can increase if a battery has a higher chemical age. A battery’s impedance will temporarily increase at a low state of charge and in a cold temperature environment. When coupled with a higher chemical age, the impedance increase will be more significant. These are characteristics of battery chemistry that are common to all lithium-ion batteries in the industry.

When power is pulled from a battery with a higher level of impedance, the battery’s voltage will drop to a greater degree. Electronic components require a minimum voltage to properly operate. This includes the device’s internal storage, power circuits, and the battery itself. The power management system determines the capability of the battery to supply this power and manages the loads to maintain operations. When the operations can no longer be supported with the full capabilities of the power management system, the system will perform a shutdown to preserve these electronic components. While this shutdown is intentional from the device perspective, it might be unexpected by the user.

Preventing unexpected shutdowns

You're more likely to experience unexpected shutdowns when your battery has a low state of charge, a higher chemical age, or when you're in colder temperatures. In extreme cases, shutdowns can occur more frequently, making the device unreliable or unusable. For iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE (1st generation), iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus, iOS dynamically manages performance peaks to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down, so you can still use your iPhone. This performance management feature is specific to iPhone and doesn't apply to any other Apple products. Starting with iOS 12.1, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X include this feature; iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR include this feature starting with iOS 13.1. Learn about performance management on iPhone 11 and later .

iPhone performance management works by looking at a combination of the device temperature, battery state of charge, and battery impedance. Only if these variables require it, iOS will dynamically manage the maximum performance of some system components, such as the CPU and GPU, in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns. As a result, the device workloads will self-balance, allowing a smoother distribution of system tasks, rather than larger, quick spikes of performance all at once. In some cases, you might not notice any differences in device performance. The level of perceived change depends on how much performance management is required for your device.

In cases that require more extreme performance management, you might notice effects such as:

Longer app launch times

Lower frame rates while scrolling

Backlight dimming (which can be overridden in Control Center)

Lower speaker volume by up to -3dB

Gradual frame rate reductions in some apps

During the most extreme cases, the camera flash will be disabled as visible in the camera UI

Apps refreshing in background might require reloading upon launch

Many key areas aren't affected by this performance management feature. Some of these include:

Cellular call quality and networking throughput performance

Captured photo and video quality

GPS performance

Location accuracy

Sensors like gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer

For a low battery state of charge and colder temperatures, performance-management changes are temporary. If a device battery has chemically aged far enough, performance-management changes might be more lasting. This is because all rechargeable batteries are consumables and have a limited lifespan, eventually needing to be replaced. If you are impacted by this and would like to improve your device performance, replacing your device battery can help.

For iOS 11.3 and later

iOS 11.3 and later improve performance management by periodically assessing the level of performance management necessary to avoid unexpected shutdowns. If the battery health is able to support the observed peak power requirements, the amount of performance management will be lowered. If an unexpected shutdown occurs again, performance management will increase. This assessment is ongoing, allowing more adaptive performance management.

iPhone 8 and later use an advanced hardware and software design that provides a more accurate estimation of both power needs and the battery’s power capability to maximize overall system performance. This allows iOS to anticipate and avoid an unexpected shutdown more precisely. As a result, the effects of performance management might be less noticeable on iPhone 8 and later. Over time, the rechargeable batteries in all iPhone models will diminish in their capacity and peak performance and will eventually need to be replaced.

image alt text

Battery Health

For iPhone 6 and later, iOS 11.3 and later add new features to show battery health and recommend if you need to replace the battery. You can find these in Settings > Battery > Battery Health (with iOS 16.1 or later, find these in Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging).

Additionally, you can see if the performance-management feature, which dynamically manages maximum performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns, is on, and you can choose to turn it off. This feature is enabled only after an unexpected shutdown first occurs on a device with a battery that has diminished ability to deliver maximum instantaneous power. This feature applies to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE (1st generation), iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus. Starting with iOS 12.1, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X include this feature; iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR include this feature starting with iOS 13.1. Learn about performance management on iPhone 11 and later . The effects of performance management on these newer models might be less noticeable due to their more advanced hardware and software design.

Devices updating from iOS 11.2.6 or earlier will initially have performance management disabled; it will be reenabled if the device subsequently experiences an unexpected shutdown.

All iPhone models include fundamental performance management to ensure that the battery and overall system operates as designed and internal components are protected. This includes behavior in hot or cold temperatures, as well as internal voltage management. This type of performance management is required for safety and expected function, and cannot be turned off.

image alt text

Your battery's maximum capacity

The Battery Health screen includes information on maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability.

Maximum battery capacity measures the device battery capacity relative to when it was new. A battery will have lower capacity as the battery chemically ages, which might result in fewer hours of usage between charges. Depending upon the length of time between when the iPhone was made and when it's activated, your battery capacity might show as slightly less than 100 percent.

Batteries of iPhone 14 models and earlier are designed to retain 80 percent of their original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions.* Batteries of iPhone 15 models are designed to retain 80 percent of their original capacity at 1000 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions.* With all models, the exact capacity percentage depends on how the devices are regularly used and charged. The one-year warranty includes service coverage for a defective battery in addition to rights provided under local consumer laws. If it is out of warranty, Apple offers battery service for a charge. Learn more about charge cycles.

As your battery health degrades, so can its ability to deliver peak performance. The Battery Health screen includes a section for Peak Performance Capability where the following messages might appear.

Performance is normal

When the battery condition can support normal peak performance and does not have the performance management features applied, you'll see this message:

Your battery is currently supporting normal peak performance.

image alt text

Performance management applied

When the performance management features have been applied, you'll see this message:

This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. Performance management has been applied to help prevent this from happening again. Disable…

Note that if you disable performance management, you can’t turn it back on. It will be turned on again automatically if an unexpected shutdown occurs. The option to disable will also be available.

image alt text

Battery health unknown

If iOS is unable to determine the device battery health, you'll see this message:

This iPhone is unable to determine battery health. An Apple Authorized Service Provider can service the battery. More about service options…

This might be due to having an improperly installed battery or an unknown battery part.

image alt text

Performance management turned off

If you disable the applied performance-management feature, you'll see this message:

This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. You have manually disabled performance management protections.

If the device experiences another unexpected shutdown, the performance-management features will be reapplied. The option to disable will also be available.

image alt text

Battery health degraded

If battery health has degraded significantly, the below message will also appear:

Your battery’s health is significantly degraded. An Apple Authorized Service Provider can replace the battery to restore full performance and capacity. More about service options…

This message doesn't indicate a safety issue. You can still use your battery. However, you might experience more noticeable battery and performance issues. A new replacement battery will improve your experience. More about service options .

image alt text

Important Battery Message

If you see the message below, it means the battery in your iPhone is unable to be verified. This message applies to iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and later.

Unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple battery. Health information not available for this battery. Learn more...

Reported battery health information isn't available. To have your battery checked, contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider. More about service options .

Learn more about this message as it appears on iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro and later .

Getting further assistance

If your device performance has been affected by an aged battery and you would like to get help with a battery replacement, contact Apple Support for service options.

Learn more about battery service and recycling .

Recalibration of battery health reporting on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max

iOS 14.5 and later include an update to address inaccurate estimates of battery health reporting for some users. The battery health reporting system will recalibrate maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Learn more about recalibration of battery health reporting in iOS 14.5 .

* When you use your iPhone, its battery goes through charge cycles. You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used an amount that represents 100 percent of your battery’s capacity. A complete charge cycle is normalized between 80 percent and 100 percent of original capacity to account for expected diminishing battery capacity over time.

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We explain and teach technology, solve tech problems and help you make gadget buying decisions.

Top 11 Ways to Fix Paramount Plus Not Working on Web

CBS Network’s Paramount+ streaming service is home to some popular TV shows, movies, live sports, and more. While Paramount has covered the basics with native apps and a capable web version, many ran into glitches when accessing the service on their preferred browser. Here are the top ways to fix Paramount Plus not working on the web.

Top_N_Ways_to_Fix_Paramount_Plus_Not_Working_on_Web

Although Paramount has apps on phones, tablets, and most smart TV platforms, the web version can come in handy to quickly catch up with last night’s NFL game or a Champions League matchup. Several factors can affect your Paramount Plus setup on the web. Let’s check them out and resolve the problem.

1. Check Network Connection

Before we explore advanced options, ensure a high-speed internet connection on your PC or Mac. Paramount’s on-demand content is available in 4K resolution, and you need robust network connectivity to stream it without any errors.

If your desktop or laptop has Wi-Fi glitches , consider switching to an Ethernet setup . You can head to fast.com to check your internet speeds.

2. Reload the Tab

Before trying other solutions, try reloading or reopening the Paramount Plus tab. While it’s a simple trick, it can help rule out any one-off glitches that may have stemmed during the login or when you were trying to play a video.

3. Authenticate Your Account Again

Did you recently change your Paramount Plus account details? You should authenticate your account and try again.

Step 1: Head to Paramount Plus on the web.

Step 2: Click on your profile picture at the top and select Sign out.

Paramount plus not working on web 5

Log in with your latest account details and play content without any issues.

4. Check Your Paramount Plus Plan

Paramount Plus comes with a free one-week trial and after that, you need to start a subscription to access the library. The service can’t renew your subscription if your payment method has expired. As such, you should add your working credit or debit card and subscribe to Paramount+ Essential or Paramount+ with Showtime. Here’s how.

Step 1: Head to Paramount Plus on the web and go to your account from the top menu.

Paramount plus not working on web 1

Step 2: Click subscribe now and pick a relevant plan.

Paramount plus not working on web 3

Step 3: Enter your payment method and hit Start Paramount+.

Paramount plus not working on web 1 2

5. Check Simultaneous Connections

Paramount supports a maximum of three simultaneous streams. You may soon hit the device limit when you share your account details with friends and family. Instead of logging out from every device, you can simply change the account password to prevent others from piggybacking on your subscription.

Step 1: Head to the Paramount Plus account on the web.

Paramount plus not working on web 1 1

Step 2: Click Edit Password.

Paramount plus not working on web 4

Check your email for a password reset link. Follow the steps outlined in the prompt that follows to change your password seamlessly.

6. Enable VPN

Outside the United States, Paramount Plus is available in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Latin America, the Middle East, the UK and Ireland. You may face an error when visiting Paramount Plus on the web from another region.

Paramount plus not working on web 8

If you travel to another country, use a VPN network and connect to one of the US servers to access Paramount Plus.

7. Turn off Web Extensions

One of the installed web extensions can cause issues with Paramount Plus. After all, not every extension is updated regularly and may develop incompatibility with your browser. You should disable or uninstall Chrome extensions and try again.

Step 1: Launch Chrome and click the three-dot menu at the top.

Step 2: Expand Extensions and select Manage Extensions.

Paramount plus not working on web 4 1

Step 3: Turn off or remove unnecessary extensions.

Paramount plus not working on web 5 1

8. Clear Paramount Plus Cache

Paramount Plus collects cache to save your account details, search terms, and streaming preferences. When it collects corrupt data, the service may not work as expected on the web.

Step 1: Head to Paramount Plus on the web and click the more menu in the address bar.

Step 2: Open Site Settings.

Paramount plus not working on web 6 1

Step 3: Once done, look for a toggle to delete website data.  

Paramount plus not working on web 7

9. Switch to Another Browser

If you use Chrome on a desktop or Mac, consider switching to another browser like Microsoft Edge or Firefox and try streaming content from Paramount Plus.

10. The Content Is No Longer Available

CBS Network has partnered with other network providers and sports leagues to make their content available on Paramount Plus. When the contract expires, the company may pull out content from the platform. In that case, you have no option but to look for the same on rival platforms.

11. Check Paramount+ Servers

If the Paramount Plus servers are down, you won’t be able to access the app library on any platform. You can visit Downdetector and search for Paramount to confirm the issue. If you see any major outages, you must wait for the company to resolve server-side issues and try again after some time.

Stream On-Demand Shows and Live Sports Coverage

Paramount has recently teamed up with Showtime, allowing the latter’s content to be available on the platform. However, all of this is irrelevant if you cannot access your preferred movies and TV shows in the first place. In case none of the usual tricks work, you might want to consider switching to a native app on your smart TV, phone, or tablet. These apps offer a better user experience compared to the web version. Regardless, let us know which trick helped fix Paramount+ not working on the web for you in the comments below.

Last updated on 15 February, 2024

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

Top_N_Ways_to_Fix_Paramount_Not_Working_on_FireStick

DID YOU KNOW

we can not solve problems

Parth Shah is an evergreen freelance writer covering how-tos, app guides, comparisons, listicles, and troubleshooting guides on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and smart TV platforms. He has over five years of experience and has covered 1,500+ articles on GuidingTech and Android Police. In his free time, you will see him binge-watching Netflix shows, reading books, and traveling.

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Helldivers 2 Devs to Begin Rolling Out Updates to Fix the 'Most Serious Issues' on PS5 and PC Tomorrow

Arrowhead does want us to remember, however, that 'no single update will solve all the issues.'.

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Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios has said it will be releasing updates on PS5 and PC this week that aim to tackle the "most serious problems" the game is currently facing, including login, matchmaking, and server load. The first of these fixes will arrive tomorrow, February 20, but Arrowhead wants us to remember that "no single update will solve all the issues."

Arrowhead took to Discord to share the message, saying it has a plan to make "continuous improvements over the days and weeks to come" to ensure a smooth experience for all players.

"Hello there Helldivers," Arrowhead wrote. "We have improvements rolling out this week focused on the most serious problems in the game: login, matchmaking, and server load. You will see one update for PC and PS5 tomorrow, though please keep in mind that no single update will solve all the issues. Rather, we will be making continuous improvements over the days and weeks to come.

"We're all working hard to make sure that the game is a stable place to spread Managed Democracy to every planet in the galaxy. Thank you, as always."

Helldivers 2 has been a massive success since its launch, and its Steam concurrent record of 409,367 was enough to pass the all-time Steam concurrents of games like Grant Theft Auto V, Starfield, Counter-Strike, and Destiny 2.

Unfortunately, this has led to all the issues mentioned above. To help with the server load, Arrowhead has limited concurrent players to around 450,000 to improve stability. Rest assured though, Helldivers, as Arrowhead is doing its part to fix all the problems out there so you all can get back to taking down more bugs and bots.

In our Helldivers 2 review, we said its "combat feels fantastic, its missions stay fresh and interesting, and its smart progression system doesn’t nickel and dime you."

For more, check out how Helldivers 2 players who refuse to log out to ensure they keep their spot in the servers are "ruining it for others" and how Helldivers 2's director called renewed interest in Starship Troopers after the game's success "incredible."

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected] .

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

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