5 Life-Changing Quotes From Albert Einstein
A philosophical perspective on life from a scientific visionary
Einstein was a man of culture, values, and scientific vision. I remember reading a book by Abraham Pais, who by the way was a very good old friend of the famous physicist, titled Subtle is the Lord and understanding the life of the genius and the fact that he was so much more than just a physicist who revolutionized the course of physics in the early 1900s. This handle is primarily dedicated to delivering to you the historical significance of physics, physicists, mathematics, and mathematicians, and this, of course, isn’t the first time I’m writing about Einstein. I’ve covered several stories from Einstein’s concept of God to Einstein’s best pieces of advice for students. In this story, however, I shall talk about some of the best Einstein's wisdom that has had a great impact on me and how I perceive the world.
“The only thing that interferes with my knowledge is my education.”
People often contradict and misunderstand the concept that knowledge and education are the same. These are two completely different aspects. Knowledge is the learning of facts and information gained mostly through experience and the never-ending quest to venture into the unknown and be a self-transforming individual, humble enough to make friends with what he/she doesn’t know. While education, in today’s sense, is the accumulation and learning of the already known and acquired information done mostly through formal academics. It's easier to fill and empty a cup. Same way, a pioneering mind, but constrained by the barriers of endless ideas, finds it easier to grasp the knowledge on certain things rather than a mind with endless education that delves over the same idea over and over until fatigue gets the beat of him. He gets to a point that makes him realize that the more he learns, he finds it surprising how little he knows of this world, even the knowledge that let him realize this idea. It means nothing in the end and it always gets in the way of him trying to learn something new.
“A man should look at what is and not what should be.”
People often fantasize about the world that they live in. Some people even venture too far off that they’ve lost touch with reality. People often fail to realize that reality is disappointing and the real world is harsh. People who accept this fact take it as a lesson to move forward in their lives. While others who couldn’t make peace with this fact demand better outcomes for themselves from this world. People have put their expectations from this world so high that nothing is going to satisfy them. They’re in doom and gloom when they should be acknowledging the fact that happiness is a relative term. A kid in Africa will feel like they’re in heaven when given a good meal, while a rich spoiled kid might feel like hell no matter how much money his parents might spend to make him happy.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Life’s bound to have problems. When we change our mindset and attitude on life, it is not guaranteed that the problems are going to disappear tomorrow, but what is guaranteed is that it gives us intuition on the fact that we’ll be able to face them without falling into a pit quite as often when we encounter them again. Everyone should try to teach themselves that it doesn’t hurt to be wrong every once in a while, and change our beliefs if they’re built on the wrong foundations. If we approach a mathematical problem with a process that’s faulty, over and over again, we’ll get the same wrong result over and over again. Whatever we believe is not the absolute truth. Truth is whatever we mold our perception of this world to be. And if it solves that problem, that’s not the truth we need, but the truth we deserve.
“It is in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of engaging.”
This age of information gives us quick access to surface knowledge on any topics we seek. As technology goes on advancing, the more conveniently we’re getting access to information. But this idea has sort of killed our sense of enthusiasm. There is no level of intrigue anymore. No more discussions on matters unknown with your colleagues, No more speculations. Why should you argue with a scholar on any topic for hours on end when you could just look it up on the internet to find out whether you’re right or wrong? This has killed critical thinking by millions because, in order to be curious, you need to be able to ask questions to yourself, but modern rudimentary base-level instructions do the answering for us completely devastating the foundations on which critical minds should stand.
“Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. I’m not sure about the universe.”
There have always been two kinds of minds in this world. The ones that make logical sense for everything they see and the others who jump to the conclusions first and then try to build up the reasoning that supports their claim. Our mind is so juvenile and easily influenced at times that we tend to believe whatever others have their faith in. If we look at human civilization from a 3rd person perspective, on the one hand, we could see the brilliance in the workings of inventions and technological heights like never before. While on the other hand, war, pollution, and tribalism make us look like we’re still in the infancy of our cognitive development. The naïve nature of humans is beyond measure and will one day be responsible for either making or breaking humanity.
Contributed by Rishab Karki and curated by the author.
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