“Only to a tiny minority is it given to fascinate their generation by subtle humour and grace and to hold the mirror up to it by the impersonal agency of art. To-day I salute with sincere emotion the supreme master of this method, who has delighted — and educated — us all.”
-Albert Einstein
The artist’s laser-beam, with its wit and easy grace yet also with unrelenting intensity, that reveals to us who we really are and what it means to be human, is a gift beyond accounting, .
From the few, much is given to the many.
“There are few enough people with sufficient independence to see the weaknesses and follies of their contemporaries and remain themselves untouched by them.”
-Albert Einstein
Too few are of independent and courageous enough mind to see the truth of the world, as humans inhabit it, and not instead get drawn into the seeming propensity for foolishness.
“I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude…”
-Albert Einstein
No man is an island, all are connected and depend on the society of their fellows.
There are those who nonetheless must remain at a distance. The artist, the traveler, the thinker, the loner. Those who find in solace in solitude.
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
-Albert Einstein
Any well understood idea, fully considered plan, or sound theory must be summarized in less than a minute. Otherwise you’re wasting your own time and everyone else’s.
Simplicity is the clarifying beam of understanding.
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
What good is a person’s presumed success if it offers nothing of value to anyone else?
“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
To the degree that you are certain of reality is the degree to which you do not know what is real. And vice-versa.
“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 rational mind is best used when in pursuit of the miraculous and mysterious, in following a hunch, in looking beyond the obvious and immediate.
The intuitive mind is the fundamental source of all human progress.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
-Albert Einstein
The body will stop growing, begin to break down, wither… But it is the seeking mind that grows wise as well as old, knowing that the act of questioning is the fundamental source of wisdom.
We cease to grow when we stop questioning.
“Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them”
-Albert Einstein
Many a smart and diligent intellect may apply itself to the resolution crisis. It is to the avoidance of such that true genius lies.
“I never think of the future. It comes soon enough”
