Albert Einstein was a significant 20th-century figure. His scientific findings highlighted nature and human’s place in it. Einstein’s words remind many people that intellect may affect the future.
The following describes Albert Einstein’s life and memorable quotes.
Who was Albert Einstein?
Albert Einstein, born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879, became famous in 1905 for his Special Theory of Relativity and the E=mc² equation. His 1915 General Theory of Relativity depicted gravity as a spacetime curvature, revolutionizing our view of time, space, and the cosmos. This theory changed the field, and the 1919 solar eclipse verified light bending, confirming his predictions.
Beyond science, Albert Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for explaining photoelectricity. He died on April 18, 1955, in Princeton, New Jersey, leaving a legacy of scientific accomplishments, peace endeavors, and civil rights advocacy.
Albert Einstein’s famous quotes about life and more
Among Einstein’s many pieces of wisdom, here are 22 notable quotes you can live by.
Authority
1. “A happy man is too satisfied with the present to think too much about the future.” — School essay titled My Future Plans, written at age 17 (1896)
2. “Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” — Letter to Swiss linguist Jost Winteler (1901)
Certainty
3. “As far as the propositions of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” — Lecture before the Prussian Academy of Sciences (1921)
Common sense
4. “Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen.” — The book The Universe and Dr. Einstein by Lincoln Barnett and attributed to Albert Einstein (1948)
Curiosity
5. “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” — Letter to Einstein’s first biographer, Carl Seelig (1952)
Death
6. “Our death is not an end if we have lived on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life.” — Letter to Maria Bijleveld, the widow of Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1926)
Education
7. “The aim (of education) must be the training of independently thinking and acting individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their highest life problem.” — Address at the State University of New York at Albany (1931)
Fame
8. “With fame I become more and more stupid, which of course is a very common phenomenon.” — Letter to physiology professor Heinrich Zangger (1919)
Him being a genius
9. “It strikes me as unfair, and even in bad taste, to select a few individuals for boundless admiration, attributing them superhuman powers of mind and character. This has been my fate, and the contrast between the popular assessment of my powers and achievements and the reality is simply grotesque.” — Quote from an interview in Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, a Dutch newspaper (1921)
His physical appearance
10. “Let me tell you what I look like: pale face, long hair, and a tiny start of a paunch. In addition, an awkward gait, and a cigar in the mouth … and a pen in pocket or hand. But crooked legs and warts he does not have, and so is quite handsome — also there’s no hair on his hands, as is so often the case with ugly men. So it really is a pity that you didn’t see me.” — Postcard to 8-year-old cousin Elisabeth Ney (1920)
Human knowledge limitations
11. “As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists.” — Letter to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1932)
Imagination
12. “I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” — Quote from an interview published in The Saturday Evening Post (1929)
Moving forward
13. “People are like bicycles. They can keep their balance only as long as they keep moving.” — Letter to Einstein’s son, Eduard (1930)
Music
14. “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. I cannot tell if I would have done any creative work of importance in music, but I do know that I get most joy in life out of my violin.” — Quote from an interview published in The Saturday Evening Post (1929)
Mystery
15. “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.” — From his book The World As I See It (1949)
National identity
16. “I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by disposition a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever.” — Letter to German mathematician Adolf Kneser (1918)
Nationalism
17. “Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.” — Quote from an interview published in The Saturday Evening Post (1929)
Relativity
18. “When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute — and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.” — Albert Einstein’s Quote from James B. Simpson’s book Best Quotes of ’54, ’55, ’56
Science
19. “One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike — and yet it is the most precious thing we have.” — Quote from Banesh Hoffmann’s Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1972)
Scope
20. “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.” — Quote from a Smithsonian article (February 1979)
Success
21. “If A is a success in life, then A equals X plus Y plus Z. Work is X; Y is play; and Z is keeping your mouth shut.” — Quote from an Observer article (1950)
Worry
22. “I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.”— Attributed to an interview on the Belgenland, a ship on which Albert Einstein traveled to New York (1930)
Navigate life’s journey with Einsteinian wisdom
Albert Einstein’s equations transformed physics, but his everlasting wisdom inspires and guides generations. You explore your inner self and improve as you apply these quotations to your life, echoing one of the greatest minds in history.
