"A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' a part limited
in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as
something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his
consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to
our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our
task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of
compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its
beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such
achievement is in itself a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner
security"
"Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligible picture of the world;
he then tries to some extent to substitute this cosmos of his for the world of experience, and thus to overcome it.
This is what the painter, the poet, the speculative philosopher, and the natural scientists do, each in his own fashion.
Each makes this cosmos and its construction the pivot of his emotional life,
in order to find in this way peace and security which he can not find in the narrow whirlpool of personal experience."
"Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs."
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."
"Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty ."
"Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value."
"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
"The point is to develop the childlike inclination for play
and the childlike desire for recognition and to guide the child over to important fields for society.
Such a school demands from the teacher that he be a kind of artist in his province."
"To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority.
Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject."
"One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life.
The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community."
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as judge in the field of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods."
“ The example of great and pure individuals is the only thing that can lead us to noble thoughts and deeds.”
"One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not.
This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination,
I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
"The only source of knowledge is experience"
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
"We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality."
