WIST

Any government is in itself an evil insofar as it carries within it the tendency to deteriorate into tyranny.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“A Reply to the Soviet Scientists,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (Feb 1948)

For the present [atomic energy] is a menace. Perhaps it is as well that it should be. It may intimidate the human race to bring order into its international affairs, which, without the pressure of fear, it undoubtedly would not do.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Einstein on the Atomic Bomb,” Interview with Raymond Swing, Atlantic (Nov 1945)

In so far as the statements of geometry speak about reality, they are not certain, and in so far as they are certain, they do not speak about reality.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Geometry and Experience” (1921)

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 (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Ideas and Opinions” (1954)

The distinctions separating the social classes are false; in the last analysis they rest on force.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“My Credo,” Wisdom (Jan 1956)

The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavor in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness.
In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“My Credo,” Speech to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin (Autumn 1932)
Source speech

The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in the United States is closely connected with this.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“My First Impression of the U.S.A.” (1921)
Later published as "Some Notes on my American Impressions" in The World As I See It (1949)

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

[Wer es unternimmt, auf dem Gebiet der Wahrheit und der Erkenntnis als Autoritat aufzutreten, scheitert am Gelachter der Gotter.]

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Neun Aphorismen” (23 May 1953)
In Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (publ. 1954). Also quoted from the 1977 ed. of Mein Weltbild (1949) (citation). Essays also sometimes cited 1952. Alternate translation: "He who endeavors to present himself as an authority in matters of truth and cognition, will be wrecked by the laughter of the gods."

One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Physics and Reality” Journal of the Franklin Institute (Mar 1936)

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

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Religion and Science,” New York Times Magazine (9 Nov. 1930)

How can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person to another, if it can give rise to no definite notion of a God and no theology? In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it …

 

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Religion and Science,” New York Times Magazine (9 Nov 1930)

The development from a religion of fear to moral religion is a great step in peoples’ lives. And yet, that primitive religions are based entirely on fear and the religions of civilized peoples purely on morality is a prejudice against which we must be on our guard. The truth is that all religions are a varying blend of both types, with this differentiation: that on the higher levels of social life the religion of morality predominates.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Religion and Science,” New York Times Magazine (9 Nov 1930)

What separates me from most atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos. The fanatical atheists are like the slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who — in their grudge against traditional religion as the “opium of the masses” — cannot hear the music of the spheres. I prefer the attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and our own being. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium” (1941)

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“What Life Means to Einstein,” Interview with G. Viereck, Saturday Evening Post (26 Oct 1929)

Quoted as "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world" in George Sylvester Viereck, "What Life Means to Einstein," Glimpses of the Great (1930).

I’m not an atheist. I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“What Life Means to Einstein,” Interview with G. Viereck, Saturday Evening Post (26 Oct 1929)

The world is a dangerous place to live in, not because of the people that do evil; but because of the people that stand by and let them do it.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)

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.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)
Recalled on his death.

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

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)
Quoted by LIFE magazine (2 May 1955)

The most important human endeavor is striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depends on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to our lives.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)
Reader's Digest, Oct 1977

Common sense is that layer of prejudices which we acquire before we are sixteen.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)
quoted in Mathematics, Queen and Servant of the Sciences by E.T. Bell

Strange is our situation here upon the earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)
quoted from James A. Haught, ed., 2000 Years of Disbelief

I would rather be an optimist and a fool than be a pessimist and correct.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)

This problem will not be solved by the same minds that created it.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)

God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)
quoted in Quest by L. Infeld (1942)

The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)

Quoted in Goldman, Einstein's God (1997)

As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)
Date is cited in a couple of places online as 1954, but with no further information.

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

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)

Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)
Also attributed (usually as "coincidences are ...") to Doris Lessing.