It strikes me as unfair, and even in bad taste, to select a few of them for boundless admiration, attributing superhuman powers of mind and character to them. This has been my fate, and the contrast between the popular estimate of my powers and achievements and the reality is simply grotesque.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a sense of unfairness in how society attributes admiration to a select few while disregarding the true capabilities of others.
In this quote, Albert Einstein reflects on the disparity between public perception and personal reality, emphasizing how a few individuals are glorified with extraordinary traits and abilities, while the complexities and contributions of others are often overlooked. Einstein critiques the tendency to idolize certain figures, which creates a skewed understanding of talent and achievement in society, suggesting that this selective admiration undermines the larger truth of human capabilities.
In practice
In a discussion about celebrity culture and societal values, you might use this quote to illustrate the point of selective admiration.
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.
You think, as you walk away from Le Cirque des Rêves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus. You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream.
POVERTY, n. A file provided for the teeth of the rats of reform. Its victims are distinguished by possession of all the virtues and by their faith in leaders seeking to conduct them into a prosperity where they believe these to be unknown.
I'm a man for whom the outside world is an inner Reality.
There is no subjection so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom.
I freely chose the kind of life I led because I was convinced that a woman has as much right as a man to live the way she does if she does no actual harm to society.
Demand that your government pays more attention. It's immoral that people in Africa die like flies of diseases that no one dies of in the United States. And the more disease there is, the more political unrest there will be, leading to more Darfurs, which the U.S. will have to pay to fix.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.