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I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people on Earth would be killed, but enough men capable of thinking, and enough books, would be left to start out again, and civilization would be restored.

We can all be thankful that this rather grim assessment from Einstein has not been put to the test.

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The proposed militarization of the nation not only immediately threatens us with war, it will also slowly but surely undermine the democratic spirit and the dignity of the individual in our land.

Einstein’s predictions here ring true particularly in the United States, where various laws of the past decade have all but negated the individual rights promised in the Bill of Rights.

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Creation of a United States of Europe is an economic and political necessity. Whether it would contribute to the stabilization of international peace is hardly predictable. I believe yes.

Einstein scores one for his envisioning of a kind of European Union, decades before the Maastricht Treaty formed the European Union of today in 1993. Of course, to say whether or not the European Union has been good for international peace or not would be pure speculation.

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As long as nations demand unrestricted sovereignty we shall undoubtedly be faced with still bigger wars, fought with bigger and technologically more advanced weapons.

As the United Nations was forming in 1945, Einstein was a vocal proponent of world government. He advocated national disarmament and world courts.

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Hitler is living—or shall I say sitting—on the empty stomach of Germany. As soon as economic conditions improve, Hitler will sink into oblivion.

This 1931 prediction did not come true for Einstein.

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We will hope that future historians will explain the morbid symptoms of present-day society as the childhood ailments of an aspiring humanity, due entirely to the excessive speed at which civilization was advancing.

This quote is from the book The World As I See It , under the section Society and Personality.

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Japan is now like a great kettle without a safety valve. It does not have enough land to enable its population to exist and develop. The situation must somehow be remedied if we are to avoid a terrible conflict.

This comes from a New York Times article in 1925. Japan invaded China a few years later, beginning a long struggle.

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A happy man is too satisfied with the present to think too much about the future.

Einstein was just 17 when he wrote this in a school essay called “My Future Plans.”

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Striving for peace and preparing for war are incompatible with each other… Arms must be entrusted only to an international authority.

Again, Einstein reiterates that armed nations will eventually find an excuse to use those arms. However, the idea of nations turning over all their weapons to an international authority has proved to be about as popular are government representatives voting to reduce their own pay.

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May the conscience and the common sense of the people be awakened, so that we may reach a new stage in the life of nations, where people will look back on war as an incomprehensible aberration of their forefathers!

Sadly, we’re still waiting for Einstein’s wish to be fulfilled, almost 60 years after his death. To many, a world without war remains incomprehensible.

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