Intelligence makes clear to us the interrelationship of means and ends. But mere thinking cannot give us a sense of the ultimate and fundamental ends. To make clear these fundamental ends and valuations and to set them fast in the emotional life of the individual, seems to me precisely the most important function which religion has to form in the social life of man.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that intelligence can clarify our goals but understanding deeper meanings and values requires religion.
Einstein suggests that while intelligence helps us understand how our actions relate to our goals, it cannot provide us with insights into our ultimate purposes in life. He argues that religion plays a crucial role in establishing profound values and meanings that influence our emotional lives, thereby shaping our social existence and guiding our actions beyond mere intellect.
In practice
In a lecture on the role of religion in modern society.
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
If I would follow your advice and Jesus could perceive it, he, as a Jewish teacher, surely would not approve of such behavior.
I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details.
In the middle of adversity there is great opportunity.
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject.
War contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason.
The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought. Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility or forgiveness lost their depth and dimension.
Since each person, as an individual, is the not-being of the other, it is never possible to eliminate non-understanding completely.
Some deny the existence of misery by pointing to the sun; he denies the existence of the sun by pointing to misery.
The whole curse of the last century has been what is called the Swing of the Pendulum; that is, the idea that Man must go alternately from one extreme to the other. It is a shameful and even shocking fancy; it is the denial of the whole dignity of the mankind. When Man is alive he stands still. It is only when he is dead that he swings.
Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.