Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein

Source: http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/EinsteinQuotes.html



* Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
* "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
* "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."
* "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
* "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
* "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
* "The only real valuable thing is intuition."
* "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
* "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."
* "God is subtle but he is not malicious."
* "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."
* "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
* "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
* "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
* "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
* "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
* "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
* "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
* "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
* "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."
* "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
* "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."
* "God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."
* "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."
* "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
* "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
* "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."
* "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
* "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
* "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
* "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."
* "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
* "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
* "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
* "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
* "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."
* "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
* "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."
* "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."
* "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."
* "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"
* "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?"
* "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
* "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."
* "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."
* "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."
* "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
* "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
* "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."
* "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
* "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
* "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."
* "...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."
* "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, 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."
* "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _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 to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
* "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

Copyright: Kevin Harris 1995 (may be freely distributed with this acknowledgement)

A Marketing Stunt of Some Travel Websites

I am very sad today. The reason behind this is that I could not go to Mumbai on April 1 in one of my best friend’s marriage. We were friends from six year. However we used to talk on phone but still we were very good friend. But I am not writing this blog to tell you about my pain. I am going to tell you about some of my experience which I faced due to my effort to go to Mumbai. Here I am going to discuss one of the irritating things regarding airlines I faced.

First of all, I booked my train in Paschim Express from New Delhi to Mumbai. But the waiting list was very long and I could not get reservation in the train. That is the reason why I could not go to Mumbai. I thought other about other alternatives as well. At present spending Rs. 5000+ on airlines is not feasible for me. Still I decided to consider some airlines which offer low fares.

It is quite obvious that airlines cannot reduce their costs more than a certain limit as they have to pay several taxes. But still I was shocked to see the marketing stunts of websites offering air tickets which are even cheaper than a box of sweets. About four or five years back I listened in some news that some airlines are offering Delhi to Mumbai travel in just Rs. 1/-. I know those who are reading this blog will laugh to read this. And, they are very true and I support them.

Let us come to the point I was searching for the low cost airlines. I read about several similar plans in some sites, as mentioned in news some years back. For instance, Bangalore to Mumbai in Rs. 1/- airfare, Delhi to Mumbai in Rs. 251/- and so on. This was really unbelievable for me, but still I was thinking that if airlines were so cheap then why I should go through train in which I shall had to spend whole day . A popular website namely Yatra.com is promoting it in attractive style. Its wording is “It’s Hard to believe but Yatra.com brings Rs. 1 airfares from Delhi to Mumbai. Book your Domestic Flight tickets with Yatra to avail this tempting offer.”

I explored several other sites and found several similar offers. When I started exploring them first thing I found is that the air travel on low rate is available only on some specific days under some special offers. But that is not the major thing. As I told imparting taxes is necessary for airlines. So these offers were like Rs. 1/- + taxes. Do you know how much are the taxes? These are 2300+. So, total fare is 2500+.

Now here major thing I think is that isn’t it like making the people fool. I am not saying that the cost of Rs. 2500/- is high according to air travel. Of course it is low and I congratulate the airlines for them. There is no doubt that instead of paying 5000+, one is required to pay on 2500+ which is half than the original cost of the air tickets. But my major concern is about common public whom these websites owners are attracting by giving vague statements. Whatever is the total airfare should be transparent from the first page. But on these websites we get the ad in the manner as they are offering the air tickets just by getting a coin or Rs. 1/-. After exploring the website, disappointment comes in the hands. Some people still have to think several times before spending Rs. 2500+ on a travel. If there is some transparency then people will waste time on such schemes only if they are able to pay the amount. Rs. 2500 means 2500, there is no meaning whether it is tax or something else. The entire amount one has to pay from his or her hard earned money. I request the websites only to make it clear whatever they are offering.

Another Face of Racism

About three days ago from writing this blog (October 17, 2009), a report published in The Times of India, Delhi edition, page 20 – “Official says no to black-white marriage in US”. According to the report, a white Louisiana justice of peace, Mr. Keith Bardwell refused to issue a marriage license to a black-white couple. Mr. Bardwell tried to defend himself by saying that he is not a racist, but he dosn’t believe in mixing of races in this way. According to him, these marriages are not long lasting. He stated that he has many black friends who come to his house, use his bathrooms, blah blah blah. He further stated that the children of such couple suffer.

Above is the view of a chief official of a so-called most developed nation in the waorld. The thing which is very much horrifying here is the way Mr. Bardwell tried to justify his views. But here the question which is still unanswered is that if there is any problem in whites and black in US, due to which the children of such couples are suffering, then why Mr. Bardwell is encouraging it? If Mr. Bardwell is so concerned about the problem of children born from black and white couple, then why instead of creating awareness, he is helping the racists indirectly. On the other hand, if a couple has decided to marry then it is its sole responsibility to take care of its children. It depends on person to person how he or she manages it. Why is Mr. Bardwell unnecessary interfering in the decision of a couple? Isn’t Mr. Bardwell making the couple suffer by refusing its marriage?

The logic given by Mr. Bardwell is totally indigestible. Instead of trying to understand the problem of those children about whom he is talking about and then solving them, Mr. Bardwell making it an all time problem. Stopping the interracist marriage is not the solution of anything, but it is just encouraging the problem. In some of the nations, women face problems if they go to school for education. Should those stop to go to school and taking education as they are facing the problem?

Convert Your Computer into Shopping Mall with Shopcorn

I am quite sure that those who are reading my blog, must be aware about the online shopping. It is the system, which has made the human life easy as compared to the past. Shopping is the hobby of many people. But, the problem that most of us busy people face is about 'time' constraint. Visiting shop to shop and choosing the right product is undoubtedly a time consuming task. I have seen many funny situations in this respect. 'Ladies spending a lot of hours in the shop of garments and their husbands getting irritated' can be seen very commonly. I think that online shopping will give a sort of relief to those husbands.

 

In case of online buying, you have the limit-less choices. You can view a number of products on the monitor of your laptop or desktop computer and can select as per your choices. You can do all this within a few minutes while sitting in your house. There are a plenty of websites which offer these services. But, there is something special in some of the portals. One such portal I visited recently, i.e., shopcorn.in. It is one of topmost online shopping sites of India. This website provides the commendable services, which are unavailable on other contemporary sites.

 

As you visit the site, you get a lot of options which ease your process of shopping. One of the most attractive features of this websites is 'deal box' in which you can select the products form various popular portals such as indiatimes, rediff etc. The most astonishing thing is that, you need not to visit those portals separately. You can see the goods from those sites on a single website which is none other than shopcorn.

 

Another option, which is supposed to be necessary in the online shopping sites, is price comparison. With the help of this, you can compare the price of the products at one place and take the fair decision about which product should be bought. Here, on the shopcorn, you have the option to select the products from different sites and compare their prices. It really enhances your choice of shopping.

 

Before buying a high-price product, many of us like to discuss about it with our friends and relatives in order to get the feedback about that product. It is quite obvious; each one of us wants to get the right product that meets our requirements. But, in the case of offline shopping, you can get the limited feedback. Moreover, if any of your loved ones hasn't used the product, then you have no choice at all, other than taking the risk. But, on the shopcorn, you can get the review about the product from the people from across the nation. The discussion forums of shopcorn allow you to discuss about the goods, take the feedback from the people and give them your feedback about the products you have used. Let us come back to 'deal box' once again. Here, you get the option to see the 'most discussed' products. Apart from it, you can see the 'most picked' and 'most kicked' options which help you to know the opinion of other buyers in better and easier manner.

 

Apart from all this, here you have the option for blogging, chatting, viewing videos about the products, and many more. You can solve your queries from the 'Q & A' section. Shopcorn offers the products of several categories such as electronics, entertainments, gift times, household products and many others. Moreover, hotel deals, travel, financial 'know-how' etc., are also the part of this site. Now this portal has started railways reservation and flight reservation (coming soon) facility also. You need not to remember a bulk of websites now. You can accomplish many of your tasks at shopcorn.

 

The products on this site are really those which a present day buyer desires. New Philips LCD TV. mobile phones of various brands, and many others can be seen on the site. The electronic products come with latest and high-end technology which meets the requirement of a modern man. I really hope that this website will get the widespread popularity across the country. So, from next time, don't worry, if you have no time to go out for shopping. You can convert your 'computer' into a 'shopping mall'.