"Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness? The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it. In war it serves that we may poison and mutilate each other. In peace it has made our lives hurried and uncertain. Instead of freeing us in great measure from spiritually exhausting labor, it has made men into slaves of machinery, who for the most part complete their monotonous long day's work with disgust and must continually tremble for their poor rations. … It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessings. Concern for the man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours; concern for the great unsolved problems of the organization of labor and the distribution of goods in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech to students at the California Institute of Technology, in "Einstein Sees Lack in Applying Science", The New York Times (16 February 1931).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein_and_politics
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Albert Einstein and politics
115 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Albert Einstein and politics →
Related Quotes
"Man begreift schwer beim Erleben dieser "großen Zeit", daß man dieser verrückten, verkommenen Spezies angehört, die s…"
"Ich bin der Abstammung nach ein Jude, der Staatszugehörigkeit nach ein Schweizer und der Gesinnung nach ein Mensch un…"
"In Lenin I honor a man, who in total sacrifice of his own person has committed his entire energy to realizing social …"
"In America, more than anywhere else, the individual is lost in the achievements of the many. America is beginning to …"
"We are inclined to overemphasize the material influences in history. The Russians especially make this mistake. Intel…"
"Bolshevism is an extraordinary experiment. It is not impossible that the drift of social evolution henceforward may b…"
"It is quite possible to be both. I look upon myself as a man. Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles …"
"We Jews have been too adaptable. We have been too eager to sacrifice our idiosyncrasies for the sake of social confor…"
"I do not believe in race as such. Race is a fraud. All modern people are the conglomeration of so many ethnic mixture…"
"Autoritätsdusel ist der größte Feind der Wahrheit."