Life and Existence

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success.

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he had imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny, but what we put into it is ours.

You, who have gotten under the skin of so many people and, indeed, of humanity, have had no occasion to slip under mine.

Although he knew who he was; although he was aware of his celebrity, he always took it with humor and always laughed at it and at himself.

At the very end, when they said to him, we could try to operate on you as a last resort. He didn't want to be operated on. He said ‘I want to go when I am ready, and I will do it in an elegant way.’

If Einstein has stopped doing physics in the year 1925 and gone fishing, he would be just as beloved, just as great, and it would not have made a damn bit of difference.

A powerful searchlight of the human mind, piercing by its rays the darkness of the unknown, has suddenly been extinguished. The world has lost its foremost genius and the Jewish people its most illustrious son in the present generation.

It is not ideal to be the wife of a genius. Your life does not belong to you. It seems to belong to everyone else. Nearly every minute of the day I give to my husband, and that means to the public.

I have finished my task here.

I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.

In one’s youth every person and every event appear to be unique. With age, one becomes much more aware that similar events recur. Later on, one is less often delighted or surprised, but also less disappointed.

In one’s youth every person and every event appear to be unique. With age, one becomes much more aware that similar events recur. Later on, one is less often delighted or surprised, but also less disappointed.

All of one’s contemporaries and aging friends are living in a delicate balance, and one feels that one’s own consciousness is no longer as brightly lit as it once was. But then, twilight with its more subdued colors has its charms as well.

I feel like an egg, of which only the shell remains; at 75 years old, one can’t expect anything else. One should prepare a person for his death.

I feel like an egg, of which only the shell remains; at 75 years old, one can’t expect anything else. One should prepare a person for his death.

Every reminiscence is colored by today’s being what it is, and therefore by a deceptive point of view.

I want to be cremated so people won’t come to worship at my bones.

I have firmly resolved to bite the dust, when my time comes, with a minimum of medical assistance, and up to then I will sin to my wicked heart’s content.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

A man’s value to the community depends primarily on how far his feelings, thoughts, and actions are directed towards promoting the good of his fellows.

The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow-creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.

Life is short, and the boulder against which one pushes with all one’s might moves from its spot only with long intermissions.