A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on
sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis
is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be
restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after
death.
(Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science", New York
Times Magazine, 9 November 1930)
Scientific research is based on the idea that
everything that takes place is determined by laws of
Nature, and therefore this holds for the action
of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be
inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer,
i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being.
(Albert Einstein, 1936, The Human Side. Responding
to a child who wrote and asked if scientists
pray.)
It was, of course, a lie what you
read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being
systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I
have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something
is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded
admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can
reveal it. (Albert Einstein, 1954, The Human Side,
edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University
Press)
I cannot imagine a
God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose
purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a
reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the
individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls
harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.
(Albert Einstein, Obituary in New York Times, 19
April 1955)
I
cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the
actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on
creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the
fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been
placed in doubt by modern science. [He was speaking of Quantum
Mechanics and the breaking down of determinism.] My religiosity
consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit
that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and
transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of
the highest importance -- but for us, not for God. (Albert Einstein,The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and
Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University
Press)
If people are good only because they fear
punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
(Albert Einstein)
The idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I
am unable to take seriously. (Albert Einstein, Letter to Hoffman
and Dukas, 1946)
The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth
nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the
legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound
judgment and action. (Albert Einstein)
I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I
consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no
superhuman authority behind it. (Albert Einstein,
The Human Side)
I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal
God is a childlike one, but I do not share the crusading spirit of
the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful
act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination
received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding
to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of
our own being. (Albert Einstein)
What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can
comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking
person with a feeling of "humility." This is a genuinely religious
feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism. (Albert
Einstein)
The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly
in the rampant growth of the so-called Theosophy and Spiritualism,
is for me no more than a symptom of weakness and confusion. Since
our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of
sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to
me to be empty and devoid of meaning. (Albert Einstein)
Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is the
same as that of the religious fanatics, and it springs from the
same source . . . They are creatures who can't hear the music of
the spheres.
There is nothing divine about morality; it is a purely human
affair. (Albert Einstein, 1934)
But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly
imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This
source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To
this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the
regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is,
comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist
without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an
image: science without religion is lame, religion without science
is blind.
