Childhood
Becoming a Freethinker and a Scientist
Religious Concepts
On Ego, Consciousness, and “Eternal Life”
Short Comments on God
Science and Religion
Religion and Science: Irreconcilable?
A Conversation with Gustav Bucky
Morals
Beliefs
Short Comments on Einstein's Faith
Miscellaneous
Einstein used to speak so often of God that I tend to believe that he has been a disguised theologian.
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt
in Albert Einstein (Diogenes Verlag, Zürich, 1979), p. 12, quoted in Jammer, p. 7
Short Comments on God
For more of Einstein's comments on God, see the Spinoza page on this site.
Knowing God's Thoughts
I want to know how God created this world. I'm not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.
— From E. Salaman, "A Talk With Einstein," The Listener 54 (1955), pp. 370-371, quoted in Jammer, p. 123.
Could God Have Done It Differently?
What I am really interested in, is knowing whether God could have created the world in a different way; in other words, whether the requirement of logical simplicity admits a margin of freedom.
— C. Seelig, Helle Zeit—Dunkle Zeit (Europa Verlag, Zuürich, 1956), p.72, quoted in Jammer, p. 124.
The following comments are excerpted from Calaprice. See pp. 145 - 161.
God's Punishment
Why do you write to me “God should punish the English”? I have no close connection to either one or the other. I see only with deep regret that God punishes so many of His children for their numerous stupidities, for which only He Himself can be held responsible; in my opinion, only His nonexistence could excuse Him.
— Letter to Edgar Meyer colleague January 2, 1915 Contributed by Robert Schulmann; also see CPAE Vol. 8 (forthcoming).
God and Goodness
Whatever there is of God and goodness in the universe, it must work itself out and express itself through us. We cannot stand aside and let God do it.
— From conversation recorded by Algernon Black, Fall 1940; Einstein Archive 54-834
God's worry
If God has created the world, his primary worry was certainly not to make its understanding easy for us.
— Letter to David Bohm, February 10, 1954; Einstein Archive 8-041
An Unperceivable Being
To assume the existence of an unperceivable being ... does not facilitate understanding the orderliness we find in the perceivable world.
— Letter to an Iowa student who asked, What is God? July, 1953; Einstein Archive 59-085
Awe of the Structure of the World
I don't try to imagine a God; it suffices to stand in awe of the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.
— Letter to S. Flesch, April 16, 1954; Einstein Archive 30-1154