Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein

Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein

I was not looking to read this until I saw it at a Barnes and Noble.

Here is an excerpt from “The World As I See It” originally published in the Forum and Century, vol. 84, p. 193-194

“How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people—first of all those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an undue amount of the labor of my fellow men.”