The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

All these primary impulses, not easily described in words, are the springs of man’s actions.

Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.

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.

At that time I had complete confidence in Russian policy and I believed that the Western Allies deliberately allowed Russia and Germany to fight each other to the death.

Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.

The faster you go, the shorter you are.

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.

The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.

I was ready to accept the philosophy that the Party is right and that in the coming struggle you could not permit yourself any doubts after the party had made a decision.

That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world.

Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

At this time I had complete confidence in Russian policy and believed that the Western Allies deliberately allowed Germany and Russia to fight each other to death.

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.

I went first to France and then to England where I studied and at the same time I tried to make a serious study of the basic Marxist philosophy.

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.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

The only source of knowledge is experience.

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

Before I joined the project most of the English people with whom I had made personal contacts were left wing and affected to some degree or other by the same kind of philosophy.

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

Force always attracts men of low morality.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.

Some time before this I had also joined a student organization which contained members of the S.P.D. as well as members of the Communist Party.

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.

Love is a better teacher than duty.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.

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.

Finally Germany’s attack on Russia seemed to confirm that Russia was not shirking and was prepared to carry out a foreign policy with the risk of war with Germany.

There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.