Essays in Humanism Quotes

“If tomorrow were never to come, it would not be worth living today.”
― Albert Einstein, On Humanism

“The more cruel the wrong that men commit against an individual or a people, the deeper their hatred and contempt for their victim. Conceit and false pride on the part of a nation prevent the rise of remorse for its crime.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“It is only men who are free, who create the inventions and intellectual works which to us moderns make life worth while.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“A large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our environment. In other words, it is tradition—besides inherited aptitudes and qualities—which makes us what we are. We but rarely reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerfu...
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― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“To act intelligently in human affairs is only possible if an attempt is made to understand the thoughts, motives, and apprehensions of one’s opponent so fully that one can see the world through his eyes.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“Beware of flatterers, especially when they come preaching hatred.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“The tendencies we have mentioned are something new for America. They arose when, under the influence of the two World Wars and the consequent concentration of all forces on a military goal, a predominantly military mentality developed, which with the almost sudden victory became even more accentuated. The characteristic feature of this mentality is that people place the importance of what Bertrand Russell so tellingly terms “naked power” far above all other factors which affect the relations between peoples. The Germans, misled by Bismarck’s successes in particular, underwent just such a transformation of their mentality—in consequence of which they were entirely ruined in less than a hundred years. I must frankly confess that the foreign policy of the United States since the termination of hostilities has reminded me, sometimes irresistibly, of the attitude of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II, and I know that, independent of me, this analogy has most painfully occurred to others as well. It is characteristic of the military mentality that non-human factors (atom bombs, strategic bases, weapons of all sorts, the possession of raw materials, etc.) are held essential, while the human being, his desires and thoughts—in short, the psychological factors—are considered as unimportant and secondary. Herein lies a certain resemblance to Marxism, at least insofar as its theoretical side alone is kept in view. The individual is degraded to a mere instrument; he becomes “human materiel.” The normal ends of human aspiration vanish with such a viewpoint. Instead, the military mentality raises “naked power” as a goal in itself—one of the strangest illusions to which men can succumb.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“For there is much truth in the saying that it is easy to give just and wise counsel—to others!—but hard to act justly and wisely for oneself.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“we should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“I do not believe there is a way in which this deeply entrenched evil can be quickly healed. But until this goal is reached there is no greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the good cause.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“For human community life cannot long endure on a basis of crude force, brutality, terror, and hate.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“Science, however, cannot create ends and, even less, instill them in human beings; science, at most, can supply the means by which to attain certain ends. But the ends themselves are conceived by personalities with lofty ethical ideals and—if these ends are not stillborn, but vital and vigorous—are adopted and carried forward by those many human beings who, half unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“We have emerged from a war in which we had to accept the degradingly low ethical standards of the enemy. But instead of feeling liberated from his standards, and set free to restore the sanctity of human life and the safety of noncombatants, we are in effect making the low standards of the enemy in the last war our own for the present. Thus we are starting toward another war degraded by our own choice.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“There can never be complete agreement on international control and the administration of atomic energy or on general disarmament until there is a modification of the traditional concept of national sovereignty. For as long as atomic energy and armaments are considered a vital part of national security no nation will give more than lip service to international treaties.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“Ownership of the means of production, on the other hand, carries a power to which the traditional safeguards of our political institutions are unequal.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“The time—which, looking back, seems so idyllic—is gone forever when individuals or relatively small groups could be completely self-sufficient. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that mankind constitutes even now a planetary community of production and consumption.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“He suffered incessantly from the fact that his critical faculties transcended his constructive capacities. In a manner of speaking, his critical sense robbed him of his love for the offspring of his own mind even before they were born.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it,”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“human community life cannot long endure on a basis of crude force, brutality, terror, and hate. Only understanding for our neighbors, justice in our dealings, and willingness to help our fellow men can give human society permanence and assure security for the individual.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“We shall be able to solve the problem when it will be clearly evident to all that there is no other, no cheaper way out of the present situation.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“In the United States everyone feels assured of his worth as an individual. No one humbles himself before another person or class. Even the great difference in wealth, the superior power of a few, cannot undermine this healthy self-confidence and natural respect for the dignity of one’s fellow-man.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“We helped in creating this new weapon in order to prevent the enemies of mankind from achieving it ahead of us, which, given the mentality of the Nazis, would have meant inconceivable destruction and the enslavement of the rest of the world. We delivered this weapon into the hands of the American and the British people as trustees of the whole of mankind, as fighters for peace and liberty. But so far we fail to see any guarantee of peace, we do not see any guarantee of the freedoms that were promised to the nations in the Atlantic Charter. The war is won, but the peace is not. The great powers, united in fighting, are now divided over the peace settlements. The world was promised freedom from fear, but in fact fear has increased tremendously since the termination of the war. The world was promised freedom from want, but large parts of the world are faced with starvation while others are living in abundance.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“love of truth and insight which lent wings to the spirit of the Renaissance has grown cold,”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“If but a small part of Mme. Curie’s strength of character and devotion were alive in Europe’s intellectuals, Europe would face a brighter future.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“The UN now and world government eventually must serve one single goal—the guarantee of the security, tranquillity, and the welfare of all mankind.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“Here in America all pay lip service to the first, optimistic, tendency. Nevertheless, the second group is strongly represented. It appears on the scene everywhere, though for the most part it hides its true nature. Its aim is political and spiritual dominion over the people by a minority, by the circuitous route of control over the means of production. Its proponents have already tried to utilize the weapon of anti-Semitism as well as of hostility to various other groups. They will repeat the attempt in times to come. So far all such tendencies have failed because of the people’s sound political instinct. And so it will remain in the future, if we cling to the rule: Beware of flatterers, especially when they come preaching hatred.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism

“It cannot be doubted that the world crisis and the suffering and privations of the people resulting from the crisis are in some measure responsible for the dangerous upheavals of which we are the witness. In such periods discontent breeds hatred, and hatred leads to acts of violence and revolution, and often even to war.”
― Albert Einstein, Essays in Humanism