Opinions about obviousness are to a certain extent a function of time.
One must console oneself with the thought that time has a sieve through which most of these important things run into the ocean of oblivion and what remains after this selection is often still trite and bad.
The next world war will be fought with stones.
I have survived two wars, two wives and Hitler.
Never let yourself be seduced by any problem, no matter how difficult.
Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else has ever thought.
I simply imagine it so, then go about to prove it.
I rarely think in words at all.
Discussion and argument are essential parts of science; the greatest talent is the ability to strip a theory until the simple basic idea emerges with clarity.
All our thinking is of this nature, a free play with concepts.
God has given me a mule-like stubbornness to stick with a difficult problem and the intuitive powers to conceptualize complex hypothetical situations in my mind.
It is quite possible that we can do greater things than Jesus, for what is written in the Bible about him is poetically embellished.
It is also a natural thing for a serious young man that he should form for himself as precise an idea as possible of the goal of his desires.
Intuitive powers played a central role in my scientific work, not wild speculation, yet a valued resource when no other approach was available.
I was just more stubborn and more passionate than most about physics.
Ninety nine failed solutions equals a gain of 99 pieces of information.
In my relativity theory I set up a clock at every point in space, but in reality I find it difficult to provide even one clock in my room.
Only six men in the world know about relativity. I am not one of them. When I ask them to explain, they confused me.
Body and soul are not two different things, but only two different ways of perceiving the same thing. Similarly, physics and psychology are only different attempts to link our experiences together by way of systematic thought.
Scientific greatness is less a matter of intelligence than character; if the scientist refuses to compromise or accept incomplete answers and persists in grappling the most basic and difficult questions.