Before God we are all equally wise – and equally foolish.

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

There is nobody I know by name who is concerned with collecting information for the Russian authorities. There are people whom I know by sight whom I trusted with my life.

Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.

The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there’s no risk of accident for someone who’s dead.

Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.

In the post war period I began again to have my doubts about Russian policy.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.

Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.

I joined the Communist Party because I felt I had to be in some organization.

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

The man of science is a poor philosopher.

Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.

My argument was that we could not stop Hitler by cooperating with other bourgeois parties but that only a united working class could stop him.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

Morality is of the highest importance – but for us, not for God.

I think the one thing that most stands out is that my father always did what he believed to be the right thing to do and he always told us that we had to go...

I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil.

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.

Isn’t it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?

God does not play dice.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

The only real valuable thing is intuition.

Shortly afterwards my father told me that he might be going into the Eastern Zone of Germany. At that time my own mind was closer to his than it had ever been before, because he...

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness.

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.

Never lose a holy curiosity.

I was a student in Germany when Hitler came to power.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.

I have just got a new theory of eternity.

Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler.

Since coming to Harwell I have met English people of all kinds, and I have come to see in many of them a deep rooted firmness which enables them to lead a decent way of...

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race.