Problem

America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people, troubles will be coming from within and without. America cannot smile away their Negro problem nor Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There are cosmic laws.

Figuring out how to think about the problem.

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.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

I am not an atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds.

I sometimes ask myself how it came about that I was the one to develop the theory of relativity. The reason, I think, is that a normal adult never stops to think about problems of space and time. These are things which he has thought about as a child. Bu t my intellectual development was retarded,as a result of which I began to wonder about space and time only when I had already grown up.

I’m not an atheist. I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books.

If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.

If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty; It is its own reward. Everything else is in god’s hands. It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

It is impossible to get out of a problem by using the same kind of thinking that it took to get into it.

It is just as important to make knowledge live and keep it alive as to solve specific problems.

It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I feel also not able to imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. My views are near those of Spinoza: admiration for the beauty of and belief in the logical simplicity of the order which we can grasp humbly and only imperfectly. I believe that we have to content ourselves with our imperfect knowledge and understanding and treat values and moral obligations as a purely human problem-the most important of all human problems.

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

Life is a Mystery, not a problem waiting to be solved.

Long hair minimizes the need for barbers; socks can be done without; one leather jacket solves the coat problem for many years; suspenders are superfluous.

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be. We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy? Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

No problem is ever solved in the same consciousness thas was used to create it.

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.

One should never impose one’s views on a problem; one should rather study it, and in time a solution will reveal itself.

Only a life lived for others is a life worth while . I have no special gift. I am only passionately curious . I want to know God’s thoughts… all the rest are details. Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift. It’s not that I’m so smart , it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

Please explain the problem to me slowly, as I do not understand things quickly.

Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in which the problems were created.

Science has brought forth this danger, but the real problem is in the minds and hearts of men.

The aim (of education) must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life problem.

The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.

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 will not solve the problems of the world from the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. More than anything else, this new century demands new thinking: We must change our materially based analyses of the world around us to include broader, more multidimensional perspectives.

The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.

The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is not a problem of physics but of ethics. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.

The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking … the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. (1945)

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.

The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking. If we want to change the world we have to change our thinking…no problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew.

The world we have made as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far creates problems that we cannot solve at the same level at which we have created them…. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humankind is to survive.

Those who staying with the wrong reward,(eg. stay in comfort zone, etc.), long enough will get problem.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.

We can’t solve today’s problems with the mentality that created them.