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Einstein Quotes v.5

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Colin Douthwaite

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Sep 14, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/14/96

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EINSTEIN QUOTATIONS v 5.O 14 Sep 1996

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There's a wonderful family named Stein,
There's Ep, there's Gert, and there's Ein.
Ep's statues are junk,
Gert's poems are bunk,
And nobody understands Ein.

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************
DISCLAIMER:
************

These Einstein quotes have been collected mainly from postings
on the Net. Authenticity and accuracy is not guaranteed.

Sources of the original quotes are not available except where
the source is actually appended to the quote.

************

"Where am I? Oh, here I am." -- Dr. Albert Einstein

The answer is 'yes' or 'no', depending on the interpretation.
-- Albert Einstein, in Scientific American, April 1950

"The really valuable thing is the Intuition. The intellect has
little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in
consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, and the solution
comes to you and you don't know how or why."
-- Albert Einstein

"Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love"

"Where the world ceases to be the scene of our personal hopes and
wishes, where we face it as free beings admiring, asking and
observing, there we enter the realm of Art and Science"

"Watch the stars, and from them learn. To the Master's honor all
must turn, each in its track, without a sound, forever tracing
Newton's ground."
--Albert Einstein, translation by Dave Fredrick

When asked how World War III would be fought, Einstein replied that
he didn't know. But he knew how World War IV would be fought: With
sticks and stones!

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an
hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a
minute. THAT'S relativity."

"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."

Einstein, Albert (1879-1955) *
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is
blind.
_Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium_ (1941) ch. 13

I cannot believe that God plays dice with the cosmos.
-- Albert Einstein, in the London Observer, 5 April 1964

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival
of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet"

"Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that
created them."
- Albert Einstein

What does a fish know about the water in which he swims all his life ?
-- Albert Einstein, in The World As I See It, 1935

Einstein was attending a music salon in Germany before the second
world war, with the violinist S. Suzuki. Two Japanese women played
a German piece of music and a woman in the audience excaimed: "How
wonderful! It sounds so German!" Einstein responded: "Madam,
people are all the same."

This is a story I heard as a freshman at the University of Utah when
Dr. Henry Eyring was still teaching chemistry there. Many years
before he and Dr. Einstein were colleagues. As they walked together
they noted an unusual plant growing along a garden walk. Dr. Eyring
asked Dr. Einstein if he knew what the plant was. Einstein did not,
and together they consulted a gardener. The gardener indicated the
plant was green beans and forever afterwards Eyring said Einstein
didn't know beans <g>. I heard this second hand and I don't know if
the story has ever been published...
-S K Franz-

If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.
-- Albert Einstein, in New Statesman, 16 April 1965

Einstein, Albert (1879-1955)
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often
think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in
terms of music. ... I get most joy in life out of music.

``What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester
Viereck,'' for the October 26, 1929 issue of _The Saturday
Evening Post_.

[ If anyone has any information on George Sylvester Viereck, who
coauthored ``Autobiography of the Wandering Jew'' and was an
America-Firster (at least before Pearl Harbor) please post. He
seems a interesting character. I recommend the _Saturday Evening
Post_ article referenced above for other Einstein quotes. ]

Einstein, Albert (1879-1955)
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the world.

``What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester
Viereck,'' for the October 26, 1929 issue of _The Saturday
Evening Post_.

Einstein, Albert (1879-1955)
Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a
simplified and intelligible picture of the world; he then tries to
some extent to substitute this cosmos of his for the world of
experience, and thus to overcome it. This is what the painter, the
poet, the speculative philosopher, and the natural scientists do,
each in his own fashion. Each makes this cosmos and its
construction the pivot of his emotional life, in order to find in
this way peace and security which he can not find in the narrow
whirlpool of personal experience.

_Ideas and Opinions_, (Dell, Pinebrook, N.J., 1954).

"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 fully suffice. This disgrace
to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at
command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance,
how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I
would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action!
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing
but an act of murder."

Einstein, Albert (1879-1955)
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It
is the source of all true art and science.
- Quoted on pg. 289 of _Adventures of a Mathematician_, by S. M.
Ulam (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1976). Apparently these
words also occur somewhere in _What I Believe_ (1930).

The most beautiful thing we can have is the mysterious.
-- Albert Einstein, in Living Philosophies, 1931

"The only source of knowledge is experience"

" I want to know God's thought,..... the rest are details.."

- A. Einstein

" The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. The religion
which based on experience, which refuses dogmatic. If there's any
religion that would cope the scientific needs it will be Buddhism...."
- A. Einstein

Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the
human race. - Albert Einstein

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the
conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any
talent for abstract, positive thinking .- Albert Einstein

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As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not
certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to
reality. -- Albert Einstein

"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler."
--Albert Einstein

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday
thinking.
-- Albert Einstein, Physics and Reality[1936]

The aim of science is, on the one hand, to achieve a complete as
possible comprehension of the connections between sense experience
and reality, and, on the other hand, the attainment of this aim by
the use of a minimum number of primary concepts and relations
(Seeking, as far as possible, logical unity in the world picture,
i.e., paucity of logical elements).

-- Albert Einstein, _Mein Weltbild_, Frankfort (1934)

Of two theoretical systems, both of which are in agreement with
experience, the one to be preferred is the one which, from the point
of view of differential calculus, is the simpler and more transparent.

-- Albert Einstein, article, _Principles of German Relativity Theory_
quoted in Elie Zahar, _Einstein's Relativity_ (1989)

Although it is true that the goal of science is to discover rules
which permit the association and foretelling of facts, this is not
its only aim. It also seeks to reduce the connections discovered to
the smallest possible number of mutually independent conceptual
elements. It is this striving after the rational unification of the
manifold that it encounters its greatest success, even though it is
precisely this attempt which causes it to run the greatest risk of
falling prey to illusion... But whoever has undergone the intense
experience of successful advances made in this domain is moved by
profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence.

-- Albert Einstein, _Ideas and Opinions_ (1954)

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."

I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures,
or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves.
An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond
my comprehension,... ; such notions are for the fears or absurd
egoism of feeble souls.

"My life is a simple thing that would interest no one. It is a known
fact that I was born and that is all that is necessary."

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim
me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the
world.

The wireless telegraph is not difficult to understand. The ordinary
telegraph is like a very long cat. You pull the tail in New York,
and it meows in Los Angeles. The wireless is the same, only without
the cat.
- Albert Einstein

(1)
The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is
comprehensible.
--Albert Einstein.

(2)
What is inconceivable about the universe is that it is at all
conceivable.

"Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a
cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans
themselves." (1929)

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from
mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not
thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and
courageously uses his intelligence."

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

A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man
need to be happy.

"Politics is a pendulum whose swings between anarchy and tyranny
are fueled by perpetually rejuvenated illusions."

"All our lauded technological progress -- our very civilization -
- is like the axe in the hand of the pathological criminal."

"Force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be
an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by
scoundrels."

"It is only to the individual that a soul is given."

"In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must
above all be a sheep oneself."

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z. X is work. Y is
play. Z is keep your mouth shut."

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its
own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he
contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous
structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to
comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy
curiosity.

Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to
learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the
spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community
to which your later work belongs.

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of
course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its
creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain
too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man
of value.

If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which
differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people
are even incapable of forming such opinions. - Albert Einstein

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a
part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his
thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest -a kind
of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind
of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to
affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free
ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to
embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Nor do I take into account a danger of starting a chain reaction of
a scope great enough to destroy part or all of the planet...But it
is not necessary to imagine the earth being destroyed like a nova by
a stellar explosion to understand vividly the growing scope of
atomic war and to recognize that unless another war is prevented it
is likely to bring destruction on a scale never before held
possible, and even now hardly conceived, and that little
civilization would survive it.
--Albert Einstein (1947)

Unless Americans come to realize that they are not stronger in the
world because they have the bomb but weaker because of their
vulnerability to atomic attack, they are not likely to conduct their
policy at Lake Success [the United Nations] or in their relations
with Russia in a spirit that furthers the arrival at an
understanding.
--Albert Einstein (1947)

The discovery of nuclear chain reactions need not bring about the
destruction of mankind any more than did the discovery of matches.
We only must do everything in our power to safeguard against its
abuse. Only a supranational organization, equipped with a
sufficiently strong executive power, can protect us.

--Albert Einstein (1953)

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity,
and I'm not sure about the former.

Perfections of mean and confusion of goals seem -in my opinion- to
characterize our age.

The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there`s
no risk of accident for someone who's dead.

The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is easier to
denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
- Albert Einstein
Quoted in: Freeman Dyson, Disturbing the Universe, ch. 5 (1979).

The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like
a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to
the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows
that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or
how. It does not understand the languages in which they are
written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of
the books---a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but
only dimly suspects.

--- Einstein

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. He to
whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand
rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955)

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a
faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift." - Albert Einstein

The school has always been the most important means of transferring
the wealth of tradition from one generation to the next. This
applies today in an even higher degree than in former times, for
through modern development of economic life, the family as bearer of
tradition and education has become weakened. The continuance and
health of human society is therefore in a still higher degree
dependent on school than formally.

-- Albert Einstein,_ New York Times_, October 16, 1936

The point is to develop the childlike inclination for play and the
childlike desire for recognition and to guide the child over to
important fields for society. Such a school demands from the
teacher that he be a kind of artist in his province.

-- Albert Einstein,_Out of My Later Years_

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

-- Albert Einstein, _Ideas and Opinions_

Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive, but the
desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger or more intelligent
than a fellow being or fellow scholar easily leads to an excessively
egoistic psychological adjustment, which may become injurious for
the individual and for the community.

----Albert Einstein,"On Education," Address to the State University
of New York at Albany, in _Ideas and Opinions_

One should guard against preaching to young people success in the
customary form as the main aim in life.The most important motive for
work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its
result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the
community.

----Albert Einstein,"On Education"

"I, too, was once treated so by my professors who did not like my
spirit of independence and although they needed an assistant,
refused to appoint me as one."

-- Albert Einstein, personal letter quoted in Antonia Vallentin,
The Drama of Albert Einstein (1954), p. 34

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of
instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of
inquiry;"

-- Albert Einstein, "Autobiographical Notes," in Albert Einstein:
Philosopher-Scientist, Paul Schilpp, ed. (1951), p. 17

With the affairs of active human beings it is different. Here
knowledge of truth alone does not suffice; on the contrary this
knowledge must continually be renewed by ceaseless effort, if it is
not to be lost. It resembles a statue of marble which stands in the
desert and is continuously threatened with burial by the shifting
sands. The hands of science must ever be at work in order that the
marble column continue everlastingly to shine in the sun. To those
serving hands mine also belong.

--Albert Einstein,"On Education," Address to the State University of
New York at Albany, in _Ideas and Opinions_, NY, 1954

Strange is our situation here upon earth.

The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the
joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of
comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics
built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.
-Albert Einstein

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
- Albert Einstein

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained
through understanding.

When the solution is simple, God is answering.

-----------

Before they immigrated to the US, the Einsteins endured the severe
economic situation in post WWI Germany. Mrs. E saved old letters and
other scrap paper for Albert to write on and so continue his work.

Years later, Mrs. Einstein was pressed into a public relations tour
of some science research center. Dutifully she plodded through lab
after lab filled with gleaming new scientific napery, The American
scientists explaining things to her in that peculiarly condescending
way we all treat non-native speakers of our own language.

Finally she was ushered into a high-chambered observatory, and came
face to face with another, larger, scientific contraption. "Well,
what's this one for?" she muttered.

"Mrs. Einstein, we use this equipment to probe the deepest secrets
of the universe," cooed the chief scientist.

"Is THAT all!" snorted Mrs. E. "My husband did that on the back of
old envelopes!"
-- Mrs. Einstein

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`!!!M?MHMMM$RMMMR@$$$$MR@MMMM8MMMM$$$$$$$WMM!MMMM!M$RMM!!.MM!%M?~!
!!!!!!MMMMBMM$$RRMMMR8MMMMMRMMMMM8$$$$$$$MM?MMMM!f#RM~ `~!!!~!
~!!HX!!~!?MM?MMM??MM?MMMMMMMMMRMMMM$$$$$MMM!MMMM!!
'!!!MX!:`~~`~~!~~!!!!XM!!!?!?MMMM8$$$$$MMMMXMMM!!
!!~M@MX.. <!!X!!!!XHMHX!!``!XMMMB$MM$$B$M!MMM!!
!!!?MRMM!:!XHMHMMMMMMMM! X!SMMX$$MM$$$RMXMMM~
!M!MMMM>!XMMMMMMMMXMM!!:!MM$MMMBRM$$$$8MMMM~
`?H!M$R>'MMMM?MMM!MM6!X!XM$$$MM$MM$$$$MX$f
`MXM$8X MMMMMMM!!MM!!!!XM$$$MM$MM$$$RX@"
~M?$MM !MMMMXM!!MM!!!XMMM$$$8$XM$$RM!`
!XMMM !MMMMXX!XM!!!HMMMM$$$$RH$$M!~
'M?MM `?MMXMM!XM!XMMMMM$$$$$RM$$#
`>MMk ~MMHM!XM!XMMM$$$$$$BRM$M"
~`?M. !M?MXM!X$$@M$$$$$$RMM#
`!M !!MM!X8$$$RM$$$$MM#`
!% `~~~X8$$$$8M$$RR#`
!!x:xH$$$$$$$R$R*`
~!?MMMMRRRM@M#` -Sushil-
`~???MMM?M"`
``~~

[ From a birthday photograph of Einstein ]

==========================================================================

Other sources:

1) In Message-ID: <bob.108....@pupress.princeton.edu>
dated 10 Jun 1996 b...@pupress.princeton.edu (Robert Brown) wrote:

>...there's a book forthcoming *The Quotable Einstein*, ed. Alice
> Calaprice (Princeton University Press, 1996), which will
> present the largest verifiable collection in one place. All
> were gathered from Einstein's own papers by the person who
> has been copyediting them over the years.

2) Judy's Einstein Collection:

http://stripe.colorado.edu/~judy/einstein.html

==========================================================================

glird

unread,

Sep 15, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/15/96

In article <51eina$c...@orm.southern.co.nz> Colin Douthwaite wrote:
>"The really valuable thing is the Intuition. The intellect has
>little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in
>consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, and the
>solution comes to you and you don't know how or why."
> -- Albert Einstein

I call it a "bimp" (Peter Sellers for bump.) One analyzes a
problem and starts to construct a logical explanation or equation
that solves the problem. Knowing the result he wishes to reach and
the place from which to start, he begins from the start and moves
toward the desired conclusion. There comes a time when he gets
blocked. The "next step" doesn't logically follow. So he starts
from the desired conclusion (perhaps an equation) and works
backward, logical step by step. Just before he reaches the stopping
point, he gets stopped again. By an act of "intuition" he "bridges"
the gap. (What he really did is splice the two pieces together.)
Another analyst comes along and examines the logical proof. He
gets to the stopping point and continues to the end. A vague sense
of discomfort remains, however. He goes back and forth over the
logical steps and there comes a time when he "feels" the invisible
bimp. And almost always, when he studies down fine enough, he
discovers that the two pieces don't accurately fit each other, they
were soldered. Under very close scrutiny, the solder melts and the
pieces spring away from one another as tho snakebit.
An intuitive flash of discovery is a joy and a wonder. It solves
many problems. It opens new ways for others to think. It is almost
ALways wrong!! It has happened to me many times. That's why I'm
forever reviewing and feeling the woven strands of my own
logical-constructions, searching for possible bimps. That's why I'm
grateful to anyone that can find one I left in; so it can be
corrected and the overall theory thereby improved.

>Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.

Relativity is the collection of misconceptions acquired later.

>What does a fish know about the water in which he swims all his
>life ?

Unlike a physicist, it knows that water really exists and
completely fills the space through which it swims.

>The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

The most joyful thing we can experience is solving it. {The joy
is for the sake of Mankind, so to speak.}

>The most beautiful thing we can have is the mysterious.

A *little* knowlege is a dangerous thing! {As Physics has
demonstrated.}

>" I want to know God's thought,..... the rest are details.."

"Jerry! Let matter be compressible."
The rest IS details. I call them "constructions". there are a lot
of details. the hard part is getting the Devil out of them.

>When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the
>conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any
>talent for abstract, positive thinking .- Albert Einstein

Well, he sure was right about that. One would have thought that
by now Physics would have come out of his fantasy land, tho.

>As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not
>certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to
>reality. -- Albert Einstein

He WAS an expert on Relativity, after all.

>The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday
>thinking.

Relativistic physics says common sense and human logic cannot be
trusted.

>The aim of science is, on the one hand, to achieve a complete as
>possible comprehension of the connections between sense experience
>and reality, and, on the other hand, the attainment of this aim by
>the use of a minimum number of primary concepts and relations
>(Seeking, as far as possible, logical unity in the world picture,
>i.e., paucity of logical elements).

THAT subject is Metaphysics. Modern physics rejects it. It is now
claimed that "reality" is a product of our measurements and how we
perform them.

>Of two theoretical systems, both of which are in agreement with
>experience, the one to be preferred is the one which, from the
>point of view of differential calculus, is the simpler and more
>transparent.

The one to be preferred is the one that fits common sense and
human logic, independently of any mathematics at all. Even
mathematicians and physicists often don't understand what their own
equations are saying. {"Calculating" and "understanding" are two
entirely different things.}

>The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is
>comprehensible.

The most incomprehensible thing about Physics is that it still
can't understand the universe. {It never rethinks its roots.}

>"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from
>mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not
>thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and
>courageously uses his intelligence."

There is no such thing as a human "genius". Some of us are just
more persistent than others. Some of us refuse to accept "mystery"
as an answer.

>A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a
>man need to be happy.

The Internet. ;-}

> Never lose a holy curiosity.

Never lose a holy skepticism re the basic theories of Physics.

>... learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm

>of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the
>community to which your later work belongs.

The latter IS the reason for the intense "joy" mentioned above.

>If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the
>tailor.
If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the

mathematical physicists.

>Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity,
>and I'm not sure about the former.

Nor I, the latter.

>The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe.

Wrong again, Albert.

>"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a
>faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the
>servant and has forgotten the gift."

We have created Physics, the insubordinate servant of Metaphysics.

>"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern
>methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy
>curiosity of inquiry;"

Alas, under the influence of you and Minkowski, the miracle has
ended. {Not quite! ;}

>When the solution is simple, God is answering.

oh well

Glird http://members.gnn.com/glird/reality.htm
"Complexity is but the many faces of simplicity.
The road to complexity consists of just a bunch of simple steps.
They only look enormous if you skip the littlest ones."

glird

unread,

Sep 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/18/96

In article <51eina$c...@orm.southern.co.nz> Colin Douthwaite wrote:

>"The really valuable thing is the Intuition. The intellect has
>little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in
>consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, and the
>solution comes to you and you don't know how or why."
> -- Albert Einstein

corrected and the overall theory thereby improved.

>Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.

Relativity is the collection of misconceptions acquired later.

>What does a fish know about the water in which he swims all his
>life ?

Unlike a physicist, it knows that water really exists and
completely fills the space through which it swims.

>The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

The most joyful thing we can experience is solving it. {The joy
is for the sake of Mankind, so to speak.}

>The most beautiful thing we can have is the mysterious.

A *little* knowlege is a dangerous thing! {As Physics has
demonstrated.}

>" I want to know God's thought,..... the rest are details.."

"Jerry! Let matter be compressible."
The rest IS details. I call them "constructions". there are a lot
of details. the hard part is getting the Devil out of them.

>When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the

>conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any
>talent for abstract, positive thinking .- Albert Einstein

Well, he sure was right about that. One would have thought that
by now Physics would have come out of his fantasy land, tho.

>As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not

>certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to
>reality. -- Albert Einstein

He WAS an expert on Relativity, after all.

>The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday
>thinking.

Relativistic physics says common sense and human logic cannot be
trusted.

>The aim of science is, on the one hand, to achieve a complete as

>possible comprehension of the connections between sense experience
>and reality, and, on the other hand, the attainment of this aim by
>the use of a minimum number of primary concepts and relations
>(Seeking, as far as possible, logical unity in the world picture,
>i.e., paucity of logical elements).

THAT subject is Metaphysics. Modern physics rejects it. It is now
claimed that "reality" is a product of our measurements and how we
perform them.

>Of two theoretical systems, both of which are in agreement with

>experience, the one to be preferred is the one which, from the
>point of view of differential calculus, is the simpler and more
>transparent.

>The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is
>comprehensible.

The most incomprehensible thing about Physics is that it still
can't understand the universe. {It never rethinks its roots.}

>"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from

>mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not
>thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and
>courageously uses his intelligence."

There is no such thing as a human "genius". Some of us are just
more persistent than others. Some of us refuse to accept "mystery"
as an answer.

>A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a

>man need to be happy.

The Internet. ;-}

> Never lose a holy curiosity.

Never lose a holy skepticism re the basic theories of Physics.

>... learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm

>of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the
>community to which your later work belongs.

The latter IS the reason for the intense "joy" mentioned above.

>If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the

>tailor.
If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the

mathematical physicists.

>Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity,
>and I'm not sure about the former.

Nor I, the latter.

>The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe.

Wrong again, Albert.

>"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a
>faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the
>servant and has forgotten the gift."

We have created Physics, the insubordinate servant of Metaphysics.

>"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern

>methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy
>curiosity of inquiry;"

Alas, under the influence of you and Minkowski, the miracle has
ended. {Not quite! ;}

>When the solution is simple, God is answering.

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