Albert Einstein

We can invent as many theories we like, and any one of them can be made to fit the facts. But that theory is always preferred which makes the fewest number of assumptions.

The theoretical idea ... does not arise apart from and independent of experience; nor can it be derived from experience by a purely logical procedure. It is produced by a creative act. Once a theoretical idea has been acquired, one does well to hold fast to it until it leads to an untenable conclusion.

A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises is, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended is its area of applicability. Therefore the deep impression which classical thermodynamics made upon me. It is the only physical theory of universal content concerning which I am convinced that within the framework of the applicability of its basic concepts, it will never be overthrown.

Classical thermodynamics ... is the only physical theory of universal content which I am convinced ... will never be overthrown.

The aim of science is, on the one hand, as complete a comprehension as possible of the connection between perceptible experiences in their totality, and, on the other hand, the achievement of this aim by employing a minimum of primary concepts and relations.

Science is the attempt to make the chaotic diversity of our sense-experience correspond to a logically uniform system of thought.

Anyone who thinks science is trying to make human life easier or more pleasant is utterly mistaken.

I have second thoughts. Maybe God is malicious._x000D_ _x000D_ Told to Valentine Bargmann.

A tyranny based on ... deception and maintained by terror must inevitably perish from the poison it generates within itself.

Man can find meaning in life only through devoting himself to society.

To understand the world one must not be worrying about one's self.

Hunger, love, pain, fear are some of those inner forces which rule the individual's instinct for self preservation.

Everyone has two choices. We're either full of love... or full of fear.

A country cannot simultaneously prepare and prevent war.

In a healthy nation there is a kind of dramatic balance between the will of the people and the government, which prevents its degeneration into tyranny.

If men as individuals surrender to the call of their elementary instincts, avoiding pain and seeking satisfaction only for their own selves, the result for them all taken together must be a state of insecurity, of fear, and of promiscuous misery.

As to science, we may well define it for our purpose as "methodical thinking directed toward finding regulative connections between our sensual experiences".

What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos.

Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics and comes from the same source.

Without "ethical culture", there is no salvation for humanity.

Have the courage to take your own thoughts seriously, for they will shape you.