"The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling."

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom."

"Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."

"The environment is everything that isn't me."

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."

"One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have."

"No this trick won't work. . . . How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"

"Although I am a typical loner in my daily life, my awareness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has prevented me from feelings of isolation."

"Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it."

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms."

"The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking."

"An empty stomach is not a good political adviser."

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"

"When I was young I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock.So I stopped wearing socks."

"It is the theory that decides what can be observed."

"The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly in the rampant growth of the so-called Theosophy and Spiritualism, is for me no more than a symptom of weakness and confusion. Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning. - Letter of February 5, 1921."

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."

"Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value."

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."

"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it's only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it's two hours. That's relativity."

"The most aggravating thing about the younger generation is that I no longer belong to it."

"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."

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right a single experiment can prove me wrong."

"Peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice, of law, of order -in short, of government."

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives."

"The framing of a problem is often far more essential than its solution."

"I was very pleased with your kind letter. Until now I never dreamed of being something like a hero. But since you've given me the nomination I feel that I am one."

"I want to know all Gods thoughts all the rest are just details."

"I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals."

"Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds."

"Creativity is contagious. Pass it on."

"You can't blame gravity for falling in love."

"Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the descernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious."

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."

"When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity."

"It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely."

"Matter tells space how to curve, space tells matter how to move."

"Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression, in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population."

"Somebody who only reads newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors looks to me like an extremely near-sighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else."

"The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill."

"The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."

"We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made."

"The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax."

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice."

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."

"Curiosity is more important than knowledge."

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes of reward after death."