"You will hardly find one among the profounder sort of scientific minds without a peculiar religious feeling of his own. But it is different from the religion of the naive man. For the latter God is a being from whose care one hopes to benefit and whose punishment one fears; a sublimation of a feeling similar to that of a child for its father, a being to whom one stands to some extent in a personal relation, however deeply it may be tinged with awe. But the scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. The future, to him, is every whit as necessary and determined as the past. There is nothing divine about morality, it is a purely human affair. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire. It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Albert Einstein
1879 – 1955
deutsch-schweizerischer Physiker und Nobelpreisträger
614 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Albert Einstein →
Related Quotes
"Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under p…"
"It is an irony of fate that myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-being…"
"There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “ar…"
"Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all…"
"Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will …"
"Man ska inte buga för dumheten bara för att den är gammal."
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
"Einstein did not consider the concept of 'determinism' to be as fundamental as it is frequently held to be (as he tol…"
"It is true that many mathematicians and physicists do their best work when young. But in Einstein's later work we see…"
"The man who was best known for his legendary struggle with the most inaccessible and recondite theories... was—and to…"