Great Throughts Treasury

"Someone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. "

"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."

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. "

"Striving for social justice is the most valuable thing to do in life. "

"A student is not a container you have to fill but a torch you have to light up. "

"Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not."

"Success = 1 part work + 1 part play + 1 part keep your mouth shut. "

"Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as hard duty. Never regard study as duty but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs. "

"Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal. "

"That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

"That which is impenetrable to us really exists. Behind the secrets of nature remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion."

"The aim of science is, on the one hand, as complete a comprehension as possible of the connection between perceptible experiences in their totality, and, on the other hand, the achievement of this aim by employing a minimum of primary concepts and relations."

"The American lives even more for his goals, for the future, than the European. Life for him is always becoming, never being."

"The armament industry is indeed one of the greatest dangers that beset mankind. It is the hidden evil power."

"The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up."

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

"The compulsory military service is a phenomenon manifested by the outrageous lack of rights to personal dignity."

"The conflict that exists today is no more than an old-style struggle for power, once again presented to mankind in semireligious trappings. The difference is that, this time, the development of atomic power has imbued the struggle with a ghostly character; for both parties know and admit that, should the quarrel deteriorate into actual war, mankind is doomed."

"The country is governed by American women, people living in extreme degrees of boredom in this and see them in a state of excitement whenever something looked at them raise enthusiasm."

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different outcome."

"The desire for guidance, love, and support prompts men to form the social or moral conception of God. This is the God of Providence, who protects, disposes, rewards, and punishes; the God who, according to the limits of the believer's outlook, loves and cherishes the life of the tribe or of the human race, or even of life itself; the comforter in sorrow and unsatisfied longing; he who preserves the souls of the dead. This is the social or moral conception of God."

"The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat."

"The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown."

"The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle."

"The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who"

"The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."

"The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill."

"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."

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

"The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of hypotheses or axioms."

"The great spirits were received strong resistance from the always-minded inadequate. Such minds remain incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bend without accountability to the common biases and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and with honor. "

"The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion."

"The highest principles for our aspirations and judgments are given to us in the Jewish-Christian religious tradition. It is a very high goal which, with our weak powers, we can reach only very inadequately, but which gives a sure foundation to our aspirations and valuations."

"The human spirit must prevail over technology."

"The idea of achieving security through national armament is, at the present state of military technique, a disastrous illusion."

"The idea of the State of Israel does not comply with the wishes of my heart. I do not understand why the engine needs to such a state. The nation-state is a bad idea was opposed by all the time. We imitate Europe, which devastated Europe in the end is nationalism. "

"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."

"The individual feels the futility of human desires and aims and the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves both in nature and in the world of thought."

"The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves."

"The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from the religion of fear to moral religion, a development continued in the New Testament. The religions of all civilized peoples, especially the peoples of the Orient, are primarily moral religions."

"The law of gravity cannot be held responsible for two people falling in love."

"The life of the individual has meaning only insofar as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful. Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate."

"The longing to behold this pre-established harmony [of phenomena and theoretical principles] is the source of the inexhaustible patience and perseverance with which Planck has devoted himself... The state of mind which enables a man to do work of this kind is akin to that of the religious worshiper or the lover; the daily effort comes from no deliberate intention or program, but straight from the heart."

"The man of science is a poor philosopher."

"The man that is his life and human life is not meaningless and miserable human being, but that hardly makes life worth living."

"The man with the greatest soul will always face the greatest war with the low minded person."

"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."

"The mind can proceed only so far upon what it knows and can prove. There comes a point where the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge, but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap."

"The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size."

"The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them."