Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He is best known to the general public 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, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”,a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory.
Albert Einstein was many things in his time; famous theoretical physicist, developer of the theory of relativity, father of modern physics. His name today is synonymous with creativity and genius, a man who was able to describe the workings of reality better than anyone since Isaac Newton.
There is hardly anyone alive today who hasn’t heard the name Albert Einstein and who has not been impacted in one way or the other by the genius’s words of wisdom. Because of his intense brilliance and ability to grasp sublime understandings that others didn’t, he was often called on to offer his opinions on many topics that went beyond the realm of science and physics.
What makes Einstein even more impressionable and fascinating was the fact that he was not just a scientist and deep thinker. Much more than that, he was awed and fascinated by life and retained a sense of childlike wonder through his lifetime. The nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer shared his impressions of Einstein by saying, “He was almost wholly without sophistication and wholly without worldliness . . . There was always with him a wonderful purity at once childlike and profoundly stubborn.”
His quotes are still as relevant today as they were a hundred years ago, and here are some of his most insightful quotes to help unleash the genius in you.
A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.
It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing — a somewhat unfamiliar conception for the average mind. Furthermore, the equation E = mc², in which energy is put equal to mass, multiplied by the square of the velocity of light, showed that very small amounts of mass may be converted into a very large amount of energy and vice versa. The mass and energy were in fact equivalent, according to the formula mentioned before. This was demonstrated by Cockcroft and Walton in 1932, experimentally.
Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
I would teach peace rather than war. I would inculcate love rather than hate.
I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.
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.
A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.
I believe in standardizing automobiles. I do not believe in standardizing human beings.
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
A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?
A human being is part of a whole called by us “Universe.”
The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it. – Albert Einstein
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. – Albert Einstein
Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations. – Albert Einstein
I love to travel, but I hate to arrive. – Albert Einstein
All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual. – Albert Einstein
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. – Albert Einstein
Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated. – Albert Einstein
The years of anxious searching in the dark, with their intense longing, their alternations of confidence and exhaustion, and final emergence into light—only those who have experienced it can understand that. – Albert Einstein
Let us not forget that human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life – Albert Einstein
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. – Albert Einstein
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.- Albert Einstein
Invention is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure. – Albert Einstein
Science can flourish only in an atmosphere of free speech. – Albert Einstein
Hail to the man who went through life always helping others, knowing no fear, and to whom aggressiveness and resentment are alien
A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future. – Albert Einstein
I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university. – Albert Einstein
Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes of reward after death. – Albert Einstein
The great moral teachers of humanity were, in a way, artistic geniuses in the art of living. – Albert Einstein
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. – Albert Einstein
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. – Albert Einstein
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. – Albert Einstein
Stay away from negative people, they have a problem for every solution. – Albert Einstein