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Freedom, in any case, is only possible by constantly struggling for it. A citizenry that is politically indifferent will always end up enslaved no matter what form its constitution and legal institutions take.

Here Einstein makes the case that unchecked power and authority always will move to strengthen itself with more power and authority, whether it exists inside a democracy or not.

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The State exists for man, not man for the State… I believe that the most important mission of the State is to protect the individual and make it possible for him to develop into a creative personality. The State should be our servant; we should not be slaves of the State. The State violates this precept when it forces us to perform military service.

This comes from a 1931 article in the New York Times Magazine called “The Road to Peace.”

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As long as I have any choice, I will stay only in a country where political liberty, toleration, and equality of all citizens before the law are the rule.

In 1933, Einstein was visiting the United States when Adolf Hitler took power in Germany. Einstein never returned to his old home.

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To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

Spoken to a friend in 1930. Einstein always looked upon authority suspiciously, and probably wished all of those who sought his knowledge and opinions would do the same with him.

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Individual freedom provides a better basis for productive labor than any form of tyranny.

When Einstein visited the United States in 1930, his arrival in the port of New York was a big deal. This quote comes from a broadcast with Einstein after he deboarded his ship.

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If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.

Einstein addressed the French Philosophical Society in 1922 and included this quote. It’s an example of his negative feelings on Nationalism, which he believed manipulated people into false pride.

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Blind obedience to authority is the greatest enemy of the truth.

Einstein said this to one of his teachers in 1901. He was talking about a professor who he considered closed-minded, but the statement holds true of Einstein’s feelings on all types of authority figures throughout his life.

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I believe in Spinoza’s God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.

This was part of an answer to Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein in 1929. Spinoza’s believed that God was inseparable from the material world, and so to become closer to God, a person should better understand the workings of the Universe. Elsewhere, Einstein stated explicitly that he was not an atheist.

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If one purges all subsequent additions from the original teachings of the Prophets and Christianity, especially those of the priests, one is left with a doctrine that is capable of curing all the social ills of humankind.

This 1933 statement comes from the Jewish publication Renasterea Noastra, of Romania.

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The word “Jewish” has two meanings: It has to do with (1) nationality and descent; (2) religion. I am a Jew in the first sense but not in the second.

When Einstein addressed Berlin’s Jewish Community in 1921, this was part of his message. He didn’t believe in the religion of Judaism, yet he identified as a Jew.

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