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“The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.”
-Albert Einstein
Belief (or non-belief) does not inoculate against bigotry.
On Bigotry and Belief
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Category Archives: Philosophy of Albert Einstein
On Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle
WikiImages / Pixabay
“It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man”
-Albert Einstein
The dangers of Plutonium-239 pale to the boundless capacity of human beings to turn it into pure destruction.
On Seeking Happiness vs. Seeking Truth
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“The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.”
-Albert Einstein
Our lives are best not when we’re seeking our own happiness or comfort. Focusing on such blinds us to the real joy of finding the good, marveling at the beauty, and finding even a tiny glimpse of the truth that pervades the universe, but which remains just out of reach for those contemplating too closely if they are comfortable or happy.
Happiness is found in truth, not truth in happiness.
On Persistence
geralt / Pixabay
“I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.”
-Albert Einstein
Success comes to those that have failed enough.
On Fighting the Good Fight
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“The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause as best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves.”
-Albert Einstein
For each of us there is a choice: to lie down, give up, and accept our powerlessness to the unstoppable tide of human history. Or to stand up, brace against the tide, and alter its course – even if only by the smallest margin. The collective course of events is determined by individual effort – or the lack thereof.
In the end, we will reap what we sow.
On Understanding Nature
federicofior0 / Pixabay
“Nature conceals her secrets because she is sublime, not because she is a trickster.”
-Albert Einstein
Nature doesn’t need our understanding, as much as it needs our respect.
On the Definition of Relativity
Unsplash / Pixabay
“When you are courting a nice girl and hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”
– Albert Einstein
It’s relatively simple. Time contracts when you’re holding the hand of a pretty girl.
On Why Having a Bad Attitude is for Losers
“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character”
-Albert Einstein
An occasional bad attitude is human nature. Making a habit of it is becomes a character trait. The decision is yours. And mine.
On the Definition of Infinity
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”
– Albert Einstein
Even the faintest and furthest star, resting at the very edge of the universe, implies a boundary. What knows no bounds is the depth to which the folly of Man can reach.
On Pondering the Requirements for Being God
"What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world."
-Albert Einstein
Could God have just sat quietly "unto himself," or is part of the job of being God creating the world, and the humans that inhabit it?