Proverbs, aphorisms, quotations (English) | by Linux fortune |
It appears that after his death, Albert Einstein found himself working as the doorkeeper at the Pearly Gates. One slow day, he found that he had time to chat with the new entrants. To the first one he asked, "What's your IQ?" The new arrival replied, "190". They discussed Einstein's theory of relativity for hours. When the second new arrival came, Einstein once again inquired as to the newcomer's IQ. The answer this time came "120". To which Einstein replied, "Tell me, how did the Cubs do this year?" and they proceeded to talk for half an hour or so. To the final arrival, Einstein once again posed the question, "What's your IQ?". Upon receiving the answer "70", Einstein smiled and replied, "Got a minute to tell me about VMS 4.0?" | |
The characteristic property of hallucinogens, to suspend the boundaries between the experiencing self and the outer world in an ecstatic, emotional experience, makes it posible with their help, and after suitable internal and external perparation...to evoke a mystical experience according to plan, so to speak... I see the true importance of LSD in the possibility of providing materail aid to meditation aimed at the mystical experience of a deeper, comprehensive reality. Such a use accords entirely with the essence and working character of LSD as a sacred drug. - Dr. Albert Hoffman, the discoverer of LSD | |
I share the belief of many of my contemporaries that the spiritual crisis pervading all spheres of Western industrial society can be remedied only by a change in our world view. We shall have to shift from the materialistic, dualistic belief that people and their environment are separate, toward a new conciousness of an all-encompassing reality, which embraces the experiencing ego, a reality in which people feel their oneness with animate nature and all of creation. - Dr. Albert Hoffman | |
Deliberate provocation of mystical experience, particularly by LSD and related hallucinogens, in contrast to spontaneous visionary experiences, entails dangers that must not be underestimated. Practitioners must take into account the peculiar effects of these substances, namely their ability to influence our consciousness, the innermost essence of our being. The history of LSD to date amply demonstrates the catastrophic consequences that can ensue when its profound effect is misjudged and the substance is mistaken for a pleasure drug. Special internal and external advance preperations are required; with them, an LSD experiment can become a meaningful experience. - Dr. Albert Hoffman, the discoverer of LSD | |
I believe that if people would learn to use LSD's vision-inducing capability more wisely, under suitable conditions, in medical practice and in conjution with meditation, then in the future this problem child could become a wonder child. - Dr. Albert Hoffman, the discoverer of LSD | |
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. - Albert Einstein | |
The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events, the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for causes of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine will exists as an independent cause of natural events. To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense, by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific knowledge has not yet been able to set foot. But I am persuaded that such behavior on the part of the representatives of religion would not only be unworthy but also fatal. For a doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light, but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress. In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast powers in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself. This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an incomparably more worthy task. - Albert Einstein | |
"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love." -- Albert Einstein | |
"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." -- Albert Einstein | |
"The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency." -- Albert Einstein | |
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." -- Albert Einstein | |
"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed." -- Albert Einstein | |
"The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure." -- Albert Einstein | |
"We scientists, whose tragic destiny it has been to make the methods of annihilation ever more gruesome and more effective, must consider it our solemn and transcendent duty to do all in our power in preventing these weapons from being used for the brutal purpose for which they were invented." -- Albert Einstein, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, September 1948 | |
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. -- Albert Einstein | |
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. -- Albert Einstein | |
Politics and the fate of mankind are formed by men without ideals and without greatness. Those who have greatness within them do not go in for politics. -- Albert Camus | |
The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. -- Albert Einstein | |
The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency. -- Albert Einstein | |
Have the courage to take your own thoughts seriously, for they will shape you. -- Albert Einstein | |
Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio, replied: "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." | |
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. -- Albert Einstein | |
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. -- Albert Einstein | |
God doesn't play dice. -- Albert Einstein | |
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. -- Albert Einstein They laughed at Einstein. They laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. -- Carl Sagan | |
I cannot believe that God plays dice with the cosmos. -- Albert Einstein, on the randomness of quantum mechanics | |
If A equals success, then the formula is _A = _X + _Y + _Z. _X is work. _Y is play. _Z is keep your mouth shut. -- Albert Einstein | |
If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith. -- Albert Einstein | |
If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. -- Albert Einstein | |
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein | |
Mathematics deals exclusively with the relations of concepts to each other without consideration of their relation to experience. -- Albert Einstein | |
The only justification for our concepts and systems of concepts is that they serve to represent the complex of our experiences; beyond this they have no legitimacy. -- Albert Einstein | |
When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute -- and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity. -- Albert Einstein | |
You will never amount to much. -- Munich Schoolmaster, to Albert Einstein, age 10 | |
It is the theory which decides what can be observed. -- Albert Einstein | |
God is subtle, but he is not malicious. -- Albert Einstein | |
That feeling just came over me. -- Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler" | |
Double your disk space - delete Windows! -- Albert Dorofeev | |
Albert Camus wrote that the only serious question is whether to kill yourself or not. Tom Robbins wrote that the only serious question is whether time has a beginning and an end. Camus clearly got up on the wrong side of bed, and Robbins must have forgotten to set the alarm. -- Tom Robbins | |
An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. -- Albert Camus | |
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. -- Albert Einstein | |
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. -- Albert Schweitzer | |
I can't stand squealers; hit that guy. -- Albert Anastasia | |
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. -- Albert Einstein | |
Man usually avoids attributing cleverness to somebody else -- unless it is an enemy. -- Albert Einstein | |
The horizon of many people is a circle with a radius of zero. They call this their point of view. -- Albert Einstein | |
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits." -- Albert Einstein | |
For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. -- Albert Camus | |
He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hopes for the human condition is a fool. -- Albert Camus | |
If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life. -- Albert Schweitzer | |
If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. -- Albert Camus | |
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. -- Albert Einstein | |
Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now -- always. -- Albert Schweitzer |