selected quotes from Einstein

[cpereira@ime.usp.br]

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research,  
would it?
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not  
giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.
Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with  
their minds.
Information is not knowledge.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our  
humanity.
Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of  
all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your  
diagrams and equations.
Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of  
compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and  
its beauty.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.
Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is  
the source of all true art and science.
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.
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting  
different results.
A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who  
are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and  
I'm not sure about the former.
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be  
trusted in large ones either.
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative  
expression and knowledge.
Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.
I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in  
the years of maturity.
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World  
War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but  
an act of murder.
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that  
counts can be counted.
It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.
The faster you go, the shorter you are.
We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has  
revealed to us.
You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
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.
Carlos Alberto de Braganca Pereira <cpereira@ime.usp.br>