The last thing to collapse is the surface.
Interpretation
The external appearances may endure until deeper issues become unsustainable.
Albert Einstein's quote suggests that what is visible on the surface may remain intact while underlying problems exist. The statement hints at the idea that true collapse, whether in ideas, systems, or structures, begins from within and only eventually manifests outwardly. It serves as a reminder to pay attention to the foundational elements that support our perceptions and experiences.
In practice
In a discussion about the fragility of societal norms, this quote highlights that problems often lie beneath a seemingly stable surface.
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.
Evil exists to glorify the good. Evil is negative good. It is a relative term. Evil can be transmuted into good. What is evil to one at one time, becomes good at another time to somebody else.
Imperfection is not our personal problem - it is a natural part of existing.
When you cry and weep, when you are miserable, you are alone. When you celebrate, the whole existence participates with you. Only in celebration do we meet the ultimate, the eternal. Only in celebration do we go beyond the circle of birth and death.
The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.
And I have lived since - as you have - in a period of cold war, during which we have ensured by our achievements in the science and technology of destruction that a third act in this tragedy of war will result in the peace of extinction.
I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the elegant arts; but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere; and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue and freedom, would be my choice.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.