Quotes — Society and the World

Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

I am not saying the U.S. should not manufacture and stockpile the bomb, for I believe that it must do so; it must be able to deter another nation from making an atomic attack.

The complexity of nuclear weapons entering the geopolitical scene caused thinking pacifists like Einstein to run their logic in circles. While Einstein unequivocally supported nuclear disarmament, such an undertaking would have to be agreed to on all sides for it to be practical.

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Albert Einstein

I am not saying the U.S. should not manufacture and stockpile the bomb, for I believe that it must do so; it must be able to deter another nation from making an atomic attack.

The complexity of nuclear weapons entering the geopolitical scene caused thinking pacifists like Einstein to run their logic in circles. While Einstein unequivocally supported nuclear disarmament, such an undertaking would have to be agreed to on all sides for it to be practical.

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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

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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Albert Einstein

Real progress has never been possible without sacrifices… As long as nations systematically continue to prepare for war, fear, distrust and selfish ambitions will lead to war again.

Einstein believe that achieve world peace, nations would have to give up some of their sovereignty to a world government. That’s the sacrifice he mentioned here.

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Albert Einstein

Real progress has never been possible without sacrifices… As long as nations systematically continue to prepare for war, fear, distrust and selfish ambitions will lead to war again.

Einstein believe that achieve world peace, nations would have to give up some of their sovereignty to a world government. That’s the sacrifice he mentioned here.

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Albert Einstein

I am a dedicated but not an absolute pacifist; this means that I am opposed to the use of force under any circumstances except when confronted by an enemy who pursues the destruction of life as an end in itself .

Here was Einstein explaining in 1953 the reason he had to relent and support the use of force against the Nazis.

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Albert Einstein

I am a dedicated but not an absolute pacifist; this means that I am opposed to the use of force under any circumstances except when confronted by an enemy who pursues the destruction of life as an end in itself .

Here was Einstein explaining in 1953 the reason he had to relent and support the use of force against the Nazis.

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Albert Einstein

My participation in the production of the atomic bomb consisted of one single act: I signed a letter to President Roosevelt in which I emphasized the necessity of conducting large-scale experimentation with regard to the feasibility of producing an atom bomb… I felt impelled to take the step because it seemed probable that the Germans might be working on the same problem with every prospect of success. I had no alternative to act as I did, although I have always been a convinced pacifist.

The letter that Einstein referenced here he sent in 1939, and for the rest of his life, the popular misperception that he was the “father of the atomic bomb” haunted Einstein. The Roosevelt letter was a significant factor in the launching of a nuclear program to try to beat the Nazis to the technology.

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Albert Einstein

My participation in the production of the atomic bomb consisted of one single act: I signed a letter to President Roosevelt in which I emphasized the necessity of conducting large-scale experimentation with regard to the feasibility of producing an atom bomb… I felt impelled to take the step because it seemed probable that the Germans might be working on the same problem with every prospect of success. I had no alternative to act as I did, although I have always been a convinced pacifist.

The letter that Einstein referenced here he sent in 1939, and for the rest of his life, the popular misperception that he was the “father of the atomic bomb” haunted Einstein. The Roosevelt letter was a significant factor in the launching of a nuclear program to try to beat the Nazis to the technology.

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Albert Einstein

My participation in the production of the atomic bomb consisted of one single act: I signed a letter to President Roosevelt in which I emphasized the necessity of conducting large-scale experimentation with regard to the feasibility of producing an atom bomb… I felt impelled to take the step because it seemed probable that the Germans might be working on the same problem with every prospect of success. I had no alternative to act as I did, although I have always been a convinced pacifist.

The letter that Einstein referenced here he sent in 1939, and for the rest of his life, the popular misperception that he was the “father of the atomic bomb” haunted Einstein. The Roosevelt letter was a significant factor in the launching of a nuclear program to try to beat the Nazis to the technology.

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