Albert Einstein

The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.

For an idea that does not first seem insane, there is no hope.

The man with the greatest soul will always face the greatest war with the low minded person.

At least once a day, allow yourself the freedom to think and dream for yourself.

Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.

Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.

That which is impenetrable to us really exists. Behind the secrets of nature remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.

Student: Dr. Einstein, Aren't these the same questions as last year's [physics] final exam? Dr. Einstein: Yes; But this year the answers are different.

I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime.

If tomorrow were never to come, it would not be worth living today.

If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.

Life isn't worth living, unless it is lived for someone else.

There is nothing known as "Perfect". Its only those imperfections which we choose not to see!!

If I had known they were going to do this, I would have become a shoemaker.

To get to know a country, you must have direct contact with the earth. It's futile to gaze at the world through a car window.

Everyone must become their own person, however frightful that may be.

In the view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who says there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support of such views. (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University, page 214)

Necessity is the mother of all invention.

I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.

If there is any religion that could respond to the needs of modern science, it would be Buddhism.

By academic freedom I understand the right to search for truth and to publish and teach what one holds to be true. This right also implies a duty: one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true.