The greatest invention of mankind is compound interest.

I have second thoughts. Maybe God is malicious.

[ Remark to Philippe Halsman :] When I was young, I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock. So I stopped wearing socks.

Then I would feel sorry for the good Lord. The theory is correct anyway.

[ From an autobiographical handwritten note :] Something deeply hidden had to be behind things.

When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.

Why do people speak of great men in terms of nationality? Great Germans, great Englishmen? Goethe always protested against being called a German poet. Great men are simply men and are not to be considered from the point of view of nationality, nor should the environment in which they were brought up be taken into account.

[ Response to being asked why people could discover atoms but not the means to control them :] That is simple, my friend: because politics is more difficult than physics.

The most important aspect of our [Israel’s] policy must be our ever-present, manifest desire to institute complete equality for the Arab citizens living in our midst. . . . The attitude we adopt toward the Arab minority will provide the real test of our moral standards as a people.

It is true that my parents were worried because I began to speak fairly late, so that they even consulted a doctor. I can’t say how old I was—but surely not less than three.