Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.
Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Time is an illusion.
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.
Our separation from each other is an optical illusion.
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Strange is our situation here on Earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men – above all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness depends.
If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.
A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.
The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.
Imagination is the highest form of research.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
The only real valuable thing is intuition.
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.
The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas.
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
The only source of knowledge is experience.
All generalizations are false, including this one.
Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.
A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
Truth is what stands the test of experience.
The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.
If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.
One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike — and yet it is the most precious thing we have.
What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the World.
God is subtle but he is not malicious.
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
God does not play dice with the universe.
I don’t try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.
If there is any religion that could respond to the needs of modern science, it would be Buddhism.
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.
I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.
Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it.
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
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.
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
You can not simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.
Force always attracts men of low morality.
Nationalism is an infantile thing. It is the measles of mankind.
The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.
Older men start wars, but younger men fight them.
I love Humanity but I hate humans.
I’d rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right.
The human spirit must prevail over technology.
It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.
You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.
Any fool can know. The point is to understand.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with joy are goodness, beauty, and truth.
Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.
I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
Creativity is intelligence having fun.
You never fail until you stop trying.
I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.
I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.
We all know that light travels faster than sound. That’s why certain people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Love is a better master than duty.
How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of good will.
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