All these primary impulses, not easily described in words, are the springs of man's actions.
As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.
Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.
Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age.
God always takes the simplest way.
God may be subtle, but he isn't plain mean.
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!
I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of religion.
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty.
I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.
Isn't it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?
It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.
It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.
It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature.
Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.
Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.
Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.
Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.
Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.
One strength of the communist system of the East is that it has some of the character of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.
Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.
Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.
Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.
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 distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
The environment is everything that isn't me.
The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.
The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.
There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.
Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.
Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.
To the Master's honor all must turn, each in its track, without a sound, forever tracing Newton's ground.
Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.
Without deep reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.
You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I've only ever had one.