We all know the name of Albert Einstein and the fact that he left us with profound ideas like e=mc2. But despite his enormous intelligence, he loved to demystify things and state them as simply as possible. He once said that he talks the same way to the garbage collector and the university president.
Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. His life’s journey took him to Switzerland and then in 1933 to the United States where he died in 1955. One of the ironies of his life is that he warned President Franklin Roosevelt so strongly about NAZI Germany’s plan to develop more powerful bombs that the US responded by establishing the Manhattan Project which built the first atomic bomb. Einstein denounced the use of nuclear fusion as a weapon.
I have collected 15 of his well-known quotes which I will present here without comment. Each is worth some time in contemplation.
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Once you stop learning, you start dying.
It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
Education is not the learning of facts, it’s rather the training of the mind to think.
I hope you find some of these ideas as inspiring as I do.
Herb