Quotes from Albert Einstein

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

There is no salvation for civilization, or even the human race, other than the creation of a world government.

In a healthy nation there is a kind of dramatic balance between the will of the people and the government, which prevents its degeneration into tyranny.

The state was made for man, not man for state.

A world government with powers adequate to guarantee security is not a remote ideal for the distant future. It is an urgent necessity if our civilization is to survive.

Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.

In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.

Outer changes always begin with an inner change of attitude.

The future is not a gift-it is an achievement.

Well-being and happiness never appeared to me as an absolute aim. I am even inclined to compare such moral aims to the ambitions of a pig.

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.

It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs.

To take those fools in clerical garb seriously is to show them too much honor.

Learn from yesterday, live for today.

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.

Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

If people are good because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

There is one ray of hope. It seems to me that today the responsible leaders of the several peoples have, in the main, the honest will to abolish war.

For an idea which, at first, does not seem absurd, there is no hope.

I love Humanity but I hate humans

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

The great moral teachers of humanity were in a way artistic geniuses in the art of living.

What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for me higher than all the achievements of the enquiring and constructive mind.