Quotes from Uncle Albert

from The Expanded Quotable Einstein, edited by Alice Calaprice

if what is seen and experienced is portrayed in the language of logic, then it is science. If it is communicated through forms whose connections are not accessible to the conscious mind but are recognized intuitively, then it is art.

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I feel myself so much a part of everything living that I am not the least concerned with the beginning or ending of the concrete existence of any one person in this eternal flow.

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Strange is our situation here upon 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 there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others, for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected. My inner and outer life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.

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The true value of a human is determined primarily by how he has attained liberation from the self.

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The betterment of human conditions the world over is not strictly dependent on scientific knowledge but on the fulfillment of human traditions and ideals.

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Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

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I believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, both physically and mentally.