«Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love», — Albert Einstein
Photo by Maks Key on Unsplash
March 14 marked the 145th birth anniversary of Albert Einstein, one of the founders of modern theoretical physics, who laid the foundations of quantum theory and predicted gravitational waves, Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1921, the founder of the famous theory of relativity, an active fighter for human rights and against the use of nuclear weapons, co-author of the famous resolution «The Russell-Einstein Manifesto 9 July 1955».
Huxley presents a selection of 25 quotes from this most outstanding scientist and humanist of the XX century.
#1 «Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere».
#2 «Education is that which remains if one has forgotten everything he learned in school».
#3 «A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future».
#4 «Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving».
#5 «The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life. To make this a living force and bring it to clear consciousness is perhaps the foremost task of education».
#6 «If you can’t explain something to a six-year-old, you really don’t understand it yourself».
#7 «Anyone who wants to see the results of his work immediately should become a shoemaker».
#8 «Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid».
#9 «Common sense is what tells us the earth is flat».
#10 «If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects».
#11 «Take a totally uncivilized Indian. Would his experience of life be less rich and happy than that of the average civilized man? I think not likely. The deeper meaning lies in the fact that children in all civilized countries love to play Indians».
#12 «If the universe is a friendly realm, then we will spend our lives building bridges. Otherwise, people will spend all their time building walls. It’s up to us to decide».
#13 «The purpose of all intellectual activity is to turn some ‘miracle’ into something comprehensible…»
#14 «Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love».
#15 «In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity».
#16 «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».
#17 «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».
#18 «Space and time are dimensions of our thought, not conditions of our existence. The time perceived by us through clocks and calendars is an invention relevant only to human beings and their interpretation of the world».
#19 «I am living, which is the main reason to be happy».
#20 «Out of clutter, find simplicity; from discord, find harmony; in difficulty, find opportunity».
#21 «There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle».
#22 «The real problem is the inner state of humanity’s soul and thinking. It is not a physical problem, but an ethical problem. What frightens us is not the explosive power of the atomic bomb, but the power to embitter the human heart, the explosive power to embitter».
#23 «If one day you have to choose between the world and love, remember this: If you choose the world you’ll be left without love, but if you choose love, with it you will conquer the world».
#24 «Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new».
#25 «In scientific thinking are always present elements of poetry. Science and music requires a thought homogeneous».
