Albert Einstein: Unsung Quotes
Man you know, his words you don't.
Wikipedia. Photograph by Orren Jack Turner, Princeton, N.J. Modified with Photoshop by PM_Poon and later by Dantadd. [Public domain]
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Albert Einstein was a great scientist and a great philosopher too. He was considered the genius of all time. he was a lifelong learner. He never stopped learning and experiencing. To understand him better, I have collected some of his lesser know ideas and quotes from Wikiquote.
“I like quoting Einstein. Know why? Because nobody dares contradict you.” - Studs Terkel
This legendary quote about Einstein tells us how many times we think of Einstein when we hear word GENIUS.
A man is measured by his actions and words. And reading what Albert Einstein say tells us a lot about him. We think he is a boring genius scientist with a lot of achievement in a boring subject. Well, science is not boring.
About Science. (not boring, I promise)
“Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But there is no doubt in my mind that the lion belongs with it even if he cannot reveal himself to the eye all at once because of his huge dimension.”
Our perception is what makes it boring. Even the most interesting thing for one can be dead boring for others. One thing I want to share with you is that, whatever you study, study it carefully. Because it has taken a lot of effort and time by the best minds of the world. So whatever you are currently studying, ponder about this one.
"Un homme heureux est trop content du présent pour trop se soucier de l'avenir.”
(A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.)
The moment you get to comfort zone. You stop growing. You stop making an effort to go to the next level of success. NEVER SETTLE tagline by OnePlus is a fabulous example. There should not be a single moment in your life when you are done. If you are breathing, then you are not done.
"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
Following leaders and government rules blindly and not questioning them. This give overpowers them and allowing them to influence people for their own selfish benefit.
“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
You can focus your life on all the problem or you can focus on learning and growing and living life like its a blessing. Live life like a blessing and it will become one.
About War and Peace.
“If relativity is proved right the Germans will call me a German, the Swiss will call me a Swiss citizen, and the French will call me a great scientist. If relativity is proved wrong the French will call me a Swiss, the Swiss will call me a German and the Germans will call me a Jew”
Funny one. Countries problem.
“Taken on the whole, I would believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time.”
(During world war II. This was the moment of great danger.)
U.N. radio interview, June 16, 1950, recorded in the study of Einstein’s Princeton, N.j, home.
Interviewer: How can we prevent war?
Einstein’s reply: “There is a very simple answer. If we have the courage to decide ourselves for peace, we will have peace.”
Interviewer: What can a private individual do about war or peace?
Einstein’s reply: “Individuals can cause anyone who tries to be elected (for Congress, etc.) to give clear promise to work for ‘international order and restriction of national sovereignty in favour of that order. Everyone is involved in forming public opinion. . . and he must really understand what is needed. . . and he must have courage to speak our”
When asked, what word would you have us broadcast to the peoples of the world?
Einstein’s reply: “I would believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit…not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in what we believe is evil.”
About Education.
“[I do not] carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books. ...The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.”
This one is one of my favorites. But too harsh for our current system. There is a time lag in all industry. Time lag can be said as the time between when a new idea becomes old. How much time it takes for a new idea or concept to come to the general public. And the time lag in the technology industry is about 18 months. Which is the shortest? But on the other hand, in the education industry. The time lag is about 50 years. So if you proposed this concept of Ideas even before 10 years, then something will happen not before till 2059.
So what we should do? I want to add a non-Einstein quote here.
“Don't let schooling interfere with your education.” - Mark Twain
Self-education isn't taught us by our parents and by teachers. Because they too are the product of the same education system. Self-education also is known as informal education. It refers to the non-traditional way of learning. Listening to podcasts, reading books (not prescribed by curriculum), reading research papers, writing articles and sharing their thoughts. Taking online courses and creating content about what you just had learned. And this never stops, even after you graduated from college. You keep learning a new strategy, open to new ideas and meeting new people. This way you become a life long learner.
“Fundamental ideas play the most essential role in forming a physical theory. Books on physics are full of complicated mathematical formulae. But thought and ideas, not formulae, are the beginning of every physical theory. The ideas must later take the mathematical form of a quantitative theory, to make possible the comparison with experiment.”
And you really don't need to study something in its present form. If someone asks you what that creature is?
It's a Felis catus.
Its correct name, but you can't expect the other person to understand that.
Felis catus is the scientific name of a cat. In the earliest time of our existence. We used to identify creature (snakes, dogs poisonous snakes, wolf) by their appearance. Not how is their DNA structure?
What I am trying to tell you is that our current state of knowledge that is presented in the prescribed textbook is after many revolutions. It’s not ULTIMATE. Its always growing.
Read from other sources too. Read history. Read about Srinivasa Ramanujan. Read about Alfred Marshall. Read how they were frustrated, made silly mistakes, what they used to think about. And finally how they came up with what we are reading the definition of it today.
That's why their autobiographies are always interesting. And next, whenever you heard of someone who's biography you had already read, you can tell many interesting things about them.
We think great scientist and other legendary people are "born genius". We think they are lucky to have that type of brain. But I want to tell you something. He wasn't a genius. He was extraordinarily motivated to learn about physics. He wasn't just interested, he had spent about 90% of his life studying physics.
In Behavioral Neuroscience of Motivation, Dr. Saperstein and Dr. Medalia state, “When intrinsic motivation for learning is high, there is greater engagement in learning activities, greater creativity, learning, and greater persistence of learning over time.” (Page number 535)
Thank you.
Written by
Chetneet Chouhan
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Sources/further reading.
BENCE BOROS, History in HD, Giammarco Boscaro and Mikhail Vasilyev on Unsplash.