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Inspirational Quotations by Albert Einstein (#367)

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It’s the birthday of theoretical physicist, humanist, and philosopher Albert Einstein (1879–1955.)

Einstein was born to Jewish parents in Ulm, Germany, in 1879. Encouraged by his uncle, Einstein started studying mathematics at school. He was an average student and his teachers predicted that he would never amount to much in life. He did not succeed in his first attempt at the entrance exam to a technical college at age 16.

Einstein barely made it through college and could not get a job in several science fields. He eventually joined the Swiss Patents Office in Bern as an examiner of patent applications and wrote scientific papers during his time off.

In 1905, at age 26, Einstein published four papers on the Special Theory of Relativity. These papers broke new ground in physics and included the legendary relation between mass and energy: E = mc-squared. In 1916, he published his work on the General Theory of Relativity. However, it was his work on the photoelectric effect that won Einstein the Nobel Prize in 1921.

Einstein immigrated to America in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and pursued an academic career at Princeton University. He died in 1955.

Einstein is best known for revolutionizing twentieth-century physics with his theories of relativity and contributions to photoelectric effect and the unification of the laws of physics. He was also a passionate humanist and advocated peace, political freedom, and social justice.

For more on Albert Einstein, I recommend Walter Isaacson’s excellent biography or DK Publishing’s biography. Also worth reading are Einstein’s “The World As I See It,” and his “Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions” with Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.

Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” This quote initiated my interest in inspirational quotes. My collection now includes 120,000 quotes.

Inspirational Quotations by Albert Einstein

You never fail until you stop trying.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Many of the things you can count, don’t count. Many of the things you can’t count, really count.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

A successful man is he who receives a great deal from his fellow men, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them. The value of a man, however, should be seen in what he gives, and not in what he is able to receive.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

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 (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

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.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Extrinsic Motivation Couldn’t Change Even Einstein

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“He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still,” wrote the English poet and satirist Samuel Butler (1613–1680) in Hudibras (Part iii. Canto iii. Line 547.)

Einstein Wouldn’t Quit Smoking

Consider the case of a rational person as great as Albert Einstein. Grandson Bernhard Caesar Einstein, himself a reputed physicist, recalled in 1998 that Grandpa Einstein’s two prized possessions were his violin and smoking pipe; his reliance on the latter “bordered on dependency.”

Despite deteriorating health, Albert Einstein couldn’t be motivated to quit smoking. His doctor tried but just couldn’t convince Einstein to give it up. To circumvent the doctor’s effort to stop him from smoking, Einstein would scour his neighborhood’s sidewalks to collect discarded cigarette butts to smoke in his pipe.

People Will Change Only if Intrinsically Motivated

People are who they are; they have their (intrinsic) motivations and will continue to live their way. Despite well-meaning intentions, you simply can’t change them or mold their minds into your way of thinking.

You may be frustrated by their reluctance to mend their ways, stop engaging in destructive behavior, or even realize that they’re throwing away their potential. But you just can’t force change down their throats if they aren’t intrinsically motivated. You can only express your opinions, offer help, and even persist. Beyond that, you can only hope they change. You can control your effort and create the conditions for success. Beyond that, the outcomes of your efforts to change are outside your span of control. Control your efforts, not the outcomes.

As I elaborated in a previous article, you will succeed in changing another person’s behavior only if you can translate the extrinsic motivation at your disposal to the elements of his/her intrinsic motivation.

Idea for Impact: Extrinsic motivation is pointless in itself

You can’t change people; they must want to change for themselves. In other words, they must be intrinsically motivated to change. Extrinsic motivation is, in itself, pointless.

Humility is a Mark of the Great

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Humility is a Life-long Pursuit

“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility.”
* The Holy Bible (Proverbs 18:12)

We live in a world that misconstrues the virtue of humility as a sign of meekness, timidity, lack of resolve, and, in general, a personal and leadership inadequacy. Could anything be more imprudent?

As the following narratives of great people will illustrate, humility is the bona fide characteristic of the truly accomplished and well-adjusted people. These great men and women live the life of modesty, unpretentiousness, and supreme confidence. They do not bear a sense of self-superiority and pride.

The Humility of Dr. Albert Einstein

“Einstein taught the greatest humility of all: that we are but a speck in an unfathomable large universe.”
* Time magazine, recognizing Albert Einstein as the Person of the Century

Sometime in the ’50s, Don Merwin, a producer of the ‘This I Believe’ radio program, visited Albert Einstein’s home in Princeton, New Jersey. He was to record Einstein speak his essay, “An Ideal of Service to Our Fellow Man” for the program. Don Merwin later recalled his experience: “I started setting up [the bulky tape recorder], and Dr. Einstein, who was a very amiable man, was chatting with me and expressed curiosity about tape-recording, which was fairly new in those days. He said, ‘How does it work?’ I started explaining the electronics of it, the way that the recording heads imprinted a signal on the moving tape. All of a sudden, I froze up. I said, ‘I am lecturing to Albert Einstein on physics!'” [Source: Allison, Jay, et al. (editors) “This I Believe: the Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women.”]

The Humility of Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna

Look at this 2007 picture from Deccan Herald, via Churumuri. Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, the 79-year old celebrated Indian Classical vocalist, expresses deep reverence and seeks the blessings of the 96-year old Dr. Gangubai Hangal, another legendary vocalist.

The Humility of Sri Veerendra Heggade

How about this 2009 picture from Karnataka News (via Churumuri?) Sri Veerendra Heggade, the widely respected guardian of a prominent temple in South India, holds an umbrella to shield from sun blaze the chairman of a culture convention at a parade in the latter’s honor.

The Humility of Peter Drucker

I have read of many an instance of the humility of Peter Drucker, the most influential management philosopher of the modern era. Here are two anecdotes:

  • Executive-education student Cathy Taylor remembers Peter Drucker conscientiously writing down autograph seekers’ names on a napkin to get the spelling correct before he made the formal inscription.
  • Forbes magazine publisher Rich Karlgaard remembers Peter Drucker “apologizing for taking so long to answer the doorbell at his modest home in Claremont, California. He said he was still adapting to his new artificial knees.”

Call for Action: Try to Practice Humility

Humility is simply the absence of pride. Humility and modesty are the marks of a genuine individual. However, practicing humility is often easier said than done. Deplorably, our society and world of work characterizes humility as significantly antithetical to the impression of the intelligent professional and competent leader. It is rather easy to succumb to the temptation to enhance our ego.

Hard as it may be, try to practice humility whenever an opportunity arises. Here are few remainders to bear in mind.

Inspirational Quotations #1131

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Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem, in my opinion, to characterize our age.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

That which is given with pride and ostentation is rather an ambition than a bounty.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (Roman Stoic Philosopher)

Always do what you feel deeply in the within to be the true thing to do.
—Wallace Wattles (American New Thought Author)

We like to be deceived.
—Blaise Pascal (French Philosopher, Scientist)

Know whence you came. If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.
—James Baldwin (American Novelist, Social Critic)

Knowledge is the consequence of time, and multitude of days are fittest to teach wisdom.
—Jeremy Collier (English Anglican Clergyman)

The waste of life occasioned by trying to do too many things at once is appalling.
—Orison Swett Marden (American New Thought Writer)

The frontiers are not east or west, north or south, but wherever a man fronts a fact.
—Henry David Thoreau (American Philosopher)

We ought to give thanks for all fortune: it is good, because it is good, if bad, because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.
—C. S. Lewis (Irish-born Author, Scholar)

The best words for resolving a disagreement are, “I could be wrong; I often am.” It’s true.
—Brian Tracy (American Author)

When you work seven days a week, fourteen hours a day, you get lucky.
—Armand Hammer (American Entrepreneur, Businessman)

You may call for peace as loudly as you wish, but where there is no brotherhood there can in the end be no peace.
—Max Lerner (American Author)

Inspirational Quotations #1073

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Inspiration never arrived when you were searching for it.
—Lisa Alther (American Novelist)

The writer does the most good who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time.
—Sydney Smith (English Preacher)

Listen, my friend! Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas. He hears it from the very moment that you are seized with helplessness, and He becomes actively engaged at once in hearing and answering the prayer of your helplessness.
—Ole Hallesby (Norwegian Theologian)

Think of yourself as an incandescent power, illuminated and perhaps forever talked to by God and his messengers.
—Brenda Ueland (American Journalist Memoirist)

If there were dreams to sell, what would you buy?
—Thomas Lovell Beddoes (English Poet)

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.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Long absent, soon forgotten.
—Common Proverb

Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.
—Humphry Davy (British Chemist)

Attention is the most basic form of love. By paying attention we let ourselves be touched by life, and our hearts naturally become more open and engaged.
—Tara Brach (American Psychologist, Author)

One golden day redeems a weary year.
—Celia Thaxter (American Poet)

Tyranny cannot defeat the power of ideas.
—Helen Keller (American Author)

In many lines of work, it isn’t how much you do that counts, but how much you do well and how often you decide right.
—William Feather (American Author, Publisher)

Where slavery is, there liberty cannot be; and where liberty is, there slavery cannot be.
—Charles Sumner (American Statesman)

We are all failures—at least, the best of us are.
—J. M. Barrie (Scottish Novelist)

You Never Know What’ll Spark Your Imagination (and When)

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Children find all sorts of unexpected ways to nurture their imagination. With uninhibited curiosity and creativity for fantasy, they can create and connect concepts without inner judgment. What children discover with their active imagination often molds how they see the world and fuels their dreams, as the following cases will illuminate.

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) hardly spoke until he was three. His delayed verbal development made him curious about ordinary things that most grown-ups take for granted—such as the nature of space and time. When he was five and sick in bed, Einstein’s father brought him a contraption that stirred his mind no end. It was the first time he had seen a magnetic compass. Laying in bed, Einstein tried waving and turning the little gadget in vain to trick it into pointing off in a new direction. He later wrote, “A wonder … this experience made a deep and lasting impression upon me. Something deeply hidden had to be behind things.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) was born into a notable aristocratic family. His parents were progressive thinkers and atheists. They chose philosopher John Stuart Mill as Russell’s secular godfather. When Russell’s parents died when he was four, they designated in their will that their progressive friends should look after young Russell and bring him up as an agnostic. But his grandparents intervened, abandoned the parents’ stipulation, and raised Russell and his brother Frank in a strict Christian household. As an adolescent, Russell kept a diary expressing his misgivings about God and concepts of free will. He kept his diary in Greek letters so that his grandparents couldn’t read it. When he went to Cambridge, he bumped into many people who thought the way he did. He actively engaged in debates and discussions. When Russell was eleven, Frank introduced him to the work of Euclid, which Russell described in his autobiography as “one of the great events of my life, as dazzling as first love. I had not imagined there was anything so delicious in the world. From that moment until I was thirty-eight, mathematics was my chief interest and my chief source of happiness.” Russell became the 20th century’s most important agnostic, philosopher, and mathematician.

Ansel Adams (1902–84) had a difficult time in school. An unruly boy, he was hyperactive and dyslexic. He was ousted from several schools. He later wrote, “Education without either meaning or excitement is impossible. I longed for the outdoors, leaving only a small part of my conscious self to pay attention to schoolwork.” His parents eventually gave up and began homeschooling him. When he was 14, they gave him two gifts: a Kodak #1 Box Brownie camera and a trip to Yosemite National Park (the National Parks Service had just been established.) On that family trip, Adams was so captivated by the charm of the mountains and the woods that he would revisit the park every summer for the rest of his life. Adams began experimenting with cameras, solidifying a lifelong connection between his two passions—photography and the natural world. He set the gold standard for art photography in the 20th century. His extraordinary photographs of Yosemite and other wilderness areas became familiar to millions worldwide.

Idea for Impact: You never knew what would spark the imagination. Build your creative muscle. Emphasize effort over the results of creative endeavors and enjoy new experiences. Play. Wander. Rebel. Experiment. Challenge. Indulge. Question. Absorb.

Inspirational Quotations #933

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Each of us is responsible for everything and to every human being.
—Simone de Beauvoir (French Philosopher)

It is not the burden but the overburden that kills the beast.
—Spanish Proverb

Life is a great and wondrous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here right now. Don’t miss it.
—Leo Buscaglia (American Motivational Speaker)

In bad fortune hold out, in good hold in.
—German Proverb

Memory is a paradise out of which fate cannot drive us.
—Alexandre Dumas fils (French Dramatist, Novelist)

There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society: to retreat ahead of it.
—Roland Barthes (French Literary Theorist)

One’s self-image is very important because if that’s in good shape, then you can do anything, or practically anything.
—John Gielgud (British Actor, Director)

Intelligence makes clear to us the interrelationship of means and ends. But mere thinking cannot give us a sense of the ultimate and fundamental ends. To make clear these fundamental ends and valuations and to set them fast in the emotional life of the individual, seems to me precisely the most important function which religion has to form in the social life of man.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Every truth we see is one to give to the world, not to keep to ourselves alone.
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (American Social Reformer)

A person’s heart is in his feet.
—Irish Proverb

The key to why things change is the key to everything.
—James E. Burke (American Business Executive)

Ideas move rapidly when their time comes.
—Carolyn Gold Heilbrun (American Feminist Scholar)

So celebrate what you’ve accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed.
—Mia Hamm (American Soccer Player)

Definition of worry: duress rehearsal.
—Indian Proverb

The heart has always the pardoning power.
—Sophie Swetchine (Russian Mystic, Writer)

A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic)

Radiant with heavenly pity, lost in care for those he knew not, save as fellow-lives.
—Edwin Arnold (English Poet)

There is a wide difference between speaking to deceive, and being silent to be impenetrable.
—Voltaire (French Philosopher, Author)

Inspirational Quotations #908

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Everything in life is speaking, is audible, is communicating, in spite of its apparent silence.
—Pir Hazrat Vilayat Khan (Indian Sufi Mystic)

Over a period of time it’s been driven home to me that I’m not going to be the most popular writer in the world, so I’m always happy when anything in any way is accepted.
—Stephen Sondheim (American Musician)

The great man is he who does not lose his child’s-heart.
—Mencius (Chinese Philosopher, Sage)

Intelligence makes clear to us the interrelationship of means and ends. But mere thinking cannot give us a sense of the ultimate and fundamental ends. To make clear these fundamental ends and valuations and to set them fast in the emotional life of the individual, seems to me precisely the most important function which religion has to form in the social life of man.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

What looks like enjoyment is the sneer of contempt. That’s not a smile.
—Jack Kevorkian (American Pathologist)

Laugh and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (American Poet, Journalist)

Forgiveness is all-powerful. Forgiveness heals all ills.
—Catherine Ponder (American Clergywoman)

Melancholy is sadness that has taken on lightness.
—Italo Calvino (Italian Novelist, Writer)

Do not give up devotional service even if there are innumerable dangers, countless insults and endless harassment. Do not become disheartened that most people in this world do not accept the message of unalloyed devotional service. Never give up your devotional service.
—Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (Indian Hindu Religious Leader)

He who endeavors to serve, to benefit, and improve the world, is like a swimmer, who struggles against a rapid current, in a river lashed into angry waves by the wind. Often they roar over his head, often they beat him back and baffle him. Most men yield to the stress of the current. Only here and there the stout, strong heart and vigorous arms struggle on towards ultimate success.
—Albert Pike (American Masonic Scholar)

You should examine yourself daily. If you find faults, you should correct them. When you find none, you should try even harder.
—Israel Zangwill (English Writer, Political Activist)

If you make happiness your goal, then you’re not going to get to it. Philosophers have been saying it for thousands of years. The goal should be an interesting life.
—Dorothy Rowe (Australian Psychologist)

Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.
—Thor Heyerdahl (Norwegian Ethnologist)

We Need to Unlearn Not Being Creative

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Creativity is a fundamental tenet of being. Every idea, no matter how trivial, is a spontaneous association between established earlier ideas.

Creativity is how we think and reason. It’s how we understand and explore. Everything else—education, upbringing, social conditioning, cultural mores—confines our creativity.

The principal villain is that little voice inside our heads that holds us back because a creative activity is disruptive. Originality begets instability. Creativity takes time, effort, and courage. Being imaginative is more unpredictable than the comfort of the repetitive pattern of everyday existence.

Watch children at play. They can invent new worlds, compose new narratives, and fantasize in double-quick with an endless stream of creativity. Children don’t hold back—to them, all things are possible because they haven’t learned that some things are impossible.

In other words, children are less hindered by prior patterns of thought. They don’t judge the quality of their creations. Nor must they “save face” if others think their ideas to be stupid. They simply move on to something else.

Alas, this high level of creativity isn’t necessarily sustained throughout childhood and into adulthood. By high school, most children have their creativity gently squeezed out by those (adults, undeniably) who think more conventionally.

Idea for Impact: We adults don’t need to learn to be creative. We need to unlearn not being creative. As Albert Einstein once said, “To stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination for play.”

Inspirational Quotations #869

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Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (English Biologist)

A daily guest is a great thief in the kitchen.
—Dutch Proverb

No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind.
—Miguel de Cervantes (Spanish Novelist)

I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

It is necessary to try to surpass one’s self always; this occupation ought to last as long as life.
—Christina, Queen of Sweden (Swedish Monarch)

Through money or power you cannot solve all problems. The problem in the human heart must be solved first.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader)

What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement.
—Napoleon Hill (American Author)

Macho doesn’t prove mucho.
—Zsa Zsa Gabor (Hungarian-born Film Actress)

To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (Roman Stoic Philosopher)

Art is the human disposition of sensible or intelligible matter for an esthetic end.
—James Joyce (Irish Novelist)

There are only two creatures of value on the face of the earth: those with the commitment, and those who require the commitment of others.
—John Adams (American Head of State)

I believe in a lively disrespect for most forms of authority.
—Rita Mae Brown (American Writer, Feminist)

Nothing goes out of fashion sooner than a long dress with a very low neck.
—Coco Chanel (French Fashion Designer)

With wisdom grows doubt.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German Poet)

It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (American Economist)

The idea shared by many that life is a vale of tears is just as false as the idea shared by the great majority, the idea to which youth and health and riches incline you, that life is a place of entertainment.
—Leo Tolstoy (Russian Novelist)

Fear is an uneasiness of the mind, upon the thought of a future evil likely to befall us.
—John Locke (English Philosopher)