Notes:. 2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited by Alice Calaprice, Section: Misattributed to Einstein, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (The quotation was absent)(Verified on paper). 1956 May 6, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Imagery In Ceramics, Section 3, Quote Page 1, Column 4, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Newspaperscom). 1973 January 18, Dixon Evening Telegraph, Astrograph by Bernice Bede Osol, Quote Page 19, Column 3, Dixon, Illinois.

1. Jacques Barzun The Modern Researcher Pdf Creator Mac

(Newspaperscom). 1977, Creative Growth Games by Eugene Raudsepp with George P. Hough Jr., (Epigraph of part 1), Quote Page 15, Jove Publications: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.

(Verified on paper)Posted on Categories, Tags,. Albert Einstein?

Narcotics Anonymous? George Bernard Shaw? Samuel Beckett? Rita Mae Brown?

John Larroquette? Jessie Potter? Werner Erhard?Dear Quote Investigator: It’s foolish to repeat ineffective actions. One popular formulation presents this point harshly:The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.These words are usually credited to the acclaimed genius Albert Einstein. What do you think?Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Einstein wrote or spoke the statement above. It is listed within a section called “Misattributed to Einstein” in the comprehensive reference “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press.The earliest strong match known to QI appeared in October 1981 within a Knoxville, Tennessee newspaper article describing a meeting of Al-Anon, an organization designed to help the families of alcoholics. The journalist described the “Twelve Steps” of Al-Anon which are based on similar steps employed in Alcoholics Anonymous.

The newspaper began with these two steps:Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanityOne of the attendees at the meeting hesitated to accept the accuracy of second step. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:Not all the women are willing to admit they needed to be “restored to sanity.” In fact, one of them adamantly maintains that she had never reached a point of insanity. But another remarks, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”The second earliest strong match known to QI appeared in a pamphlet printed by the Narcotics Anonymous organization in November 1981:The price may seem higher for the addict who prostitutes for a fix than it is for the addict who merely lies to a doctor, but ultimately both pay with their lives. Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.QI acquired a PDF of the document with the quotation above on the website amonymifoundation.org back in February 2011.

The document stated that is was printed in November 1981, and it had a 1981 copyright notice. The website was subsequently reorganized, but the document remains available via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine database.Below are additional selected citations in chronological order. Notes:. 2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited by Alice Calaprice, Section: Misattributed to Einstein, Quote Page 474, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (Verified on paper).

1981 October 11, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Al-Anon Helps Family, Friends to Orderly Lives by Betsy Pickle (Living Today Staff Writer), Quote Page F17, Column 2, Knoxville, Tennessee. (GenealogyBank). 1981, Narcotics Anonymous Pamphlet, (Basic Text Approval Form, Unpublished Literary Work), Chapter Four: How It Works, Step Two, Page 11, Printed November 1981, Copyright 1981, W.S.C.-Literature Sub-Committee of Narcotics Anonymous, World Service Conference of Narcotics Anonymous.

(Accessed at amonymifoundation.org on October 3, 2011; website has been restructured; text is available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine Snapshot January 1, 2013 PDF of pamphletPosted on Categories, Tags,. Albert Einstein? George Scialabba? Anonymous?Dear Quote Investigator: An invigorating comment about creativity is often credited to the universally recognized scientific genius Albert Einstein:Creativity is intelligence having fun.Are these really the words of Einstein?Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Einstein who died in 1955 made this remark.

The most comprehensive reference about the physicist’s pronouncements is the 2010 book “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press, and the expression is absent.QI hypothesizes that the saying evolved from the concluding sentence of a March 1984 article titled “Mindplay” in “Harvard Magazine”, an alumni publication. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.The article author was George Scialabba who graduated from the prestigious university with the class of 1969. Later he joined the staff and began writing essays and book reviews for a wide variety of periodicals.After publication the expression was disseminated and streamlined; in addition, the word “imagination” was replaced by “creativity” as shown in the chronologically ordered selected citations below. Notes:. 2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited by Alice Calaprice, (No page number because statement is absent), Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (Verified with hardcopy). 1984 March-April, Harvard Magazine, Volume 86, Number 4, The Browser: Mindplay by George Scialabba, (Book Review of Howard Gardner’s “Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”), Start Page 16, Quote Page 19, Published by Harvard Magazine Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts.

(Verified with scans; thanks to the library system of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)Posted on Categories Tags,. Albert Einstein?

John Conwell? Estelle Getty? Apocryphal?Dear Quote Investigator: Did Albert Einstein’s genius extend from physics to psychology? The following remark has been ascribed to him:Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed.I have not found any persuasive citations.

Would you please examine the provenance of this statement?Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Einstein who died in 1955 made this statement. Indeed, it is listed in a section called “Probably Not By Einstein” within the comprehensive reference “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press.The earliest ascription to Einstein located by QI appeared in 1982 in “Forbes” magazine which reported that the line was spoken by the popular comedian Mort Sahl during a performance. Perhaps Sahl concocted the linkage to the famous scientist to heighten the humor.

See the detailed citation listed further below.The earliest solid match to the statement known to QI occurred in the play “Cynara” by H. Harwood and R. Gore-Browne which was performed in London in 1930.

The drama moved to Broadway in 1931, and it was included in a compilation of “The Best Plays of 1931-32”. The character John Tring offered the following insight about marriage. The phrasing differed from the quotation under examination, but the underlying idea was the same. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:TRING—Exactly! That’s the trouble about marriage.

Women always hope it’s going to change the husband. Men always hope it won’t change their wives—and both are disappointed!

(He gets up.) Never if you can help it be a woman’s first lover—unless, of course, you’ve got the explorer’s temperament.The play was adapted from the novel “An Imperfect Lover” by R. Gore-Browne, but QI’s search did not detect the quotation within the book.Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. Notes:. 2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited by Alice Calaprice, Section: Probably Not By Einstein, Page 482, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

Jacques Barzun The Modern Researcher Pdf Creator Mac

(Verified on paper). 1932, The Best Plays of 1931-32 and the Year Book of the Drama in America, Edited by Burns Mantle, Section: Cynara: A Drama in Prologue, Three Acts and an Epilogue by H. Harwood (Harold Marsh Harwood) and R. Gore-Browne, (Adapted from novel “An Imperfect Lover” by R. Gore-Browne), Start Page 335, Quote Page 358, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York.

(Reprint Edition in 1975: Arno Press: A New York Times Company, New York) (Verified with hard copy)Posted on Categories Tags,. Albert Einstein? Apocryphal?Dear Quote Investigator: A learner may accumulate a large number of miscellaneous pieces of information without achieving an integrated understanding and without acquiring an ability to use the material intelligently. Reportedly, Albert Einstein made a germane remark:Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think.I have not been able to find a solid citation for this insight. Are these really the words of Albert Einstein? What was the context?Quote Investigator: In 1921 Albert Einstein visited Boston, Massachusetts.

At that time, a questionnaire constructed by the inventor and research laboratory pioneer Thomas A. Edison was circulating. Edison used his controversial questionnaire to screen job applicants, but Einstein was unimpressed by some of the queries. For example, “The New York Times” reported on Einstein’s reaction to one question about a fact that was readily available in reference books:He was asked through his secretary, “What is the speed of sound?” He could not say off-hand, he replied. He did not carry such information in his mind but it was readily available in text books.Einstein’s response printed in 1921 fit the theme of the quotation because he deemphasized the value of simply memorizing facts. A longer description of this episode was presented in the biography “Einstein: His Life and Times” by Philipp Frank.

A strong match for the quotation was included in the following passage. Boldface has been added to excerpts:While Einstein was in Boston, staying at the Hotel Copley Plaza, he was given a copy of Edison’s questionnaire to see whether he could answer the questions. As soon as he read the question: “What is the speed of sound?” he said: “I don’t know.

I don’t burden my memory with such facts that I can easily find in any textbook.”Nor did he agree with Edison’s opinion on the uselessness of college education. He remarked: “It is not so very important for a person to learn facts.

For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.”Frank’s biography was originally written in German, and the English translation was released in 1947. QI does not know what source material was used by Frank to report on words of Einstein in 1921, but the reliability of Frank’s biography is largely viewed favorably.Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. Albert Einstein?

Apocryphal?Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, the dress sense of a leading British politician was criticized, and his sharp rejoinder was based on a quotation attributed to Albert Einstein contrasting the relative importance of shabby clothes versus shabby ideas. Would you please examine the provenance of this statement?Quote Investigator: The earliest evidence of the quotation located by QI appeared in a 1949 compilation titled “Treasury of the Christian Faith: An Encyclopedic Handbook of the Range and Witness of Christianity” which included the following entry:If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies. — Albert EinsteinEinstein died in 1955; hence, the statement was credited to him while he was still alive. However, the 1949 book did not present a supporting citation, and QI has not yet located any pointers to speeches, interviews, or essays by Einstein containing the saying.The most comprehensive reference about Einstein’s pronouncements is the 2010 book “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press, and the expression about “shabby ideas” was not present in this volume.This entry presents a snapshot of QI’s research, and more information may be uncovered by other researchers. Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. Notes:. 1949, Treasury of the Christian Faith: An Encyclopedic Handbook of the Range and Witness of Christianity, Edited by Stanley I.

Stuber and Thomas Curtis Clark, Quote Page 415, Column 1, Published by Association Press, New York. (Verified with scans; many thanks to Reformed Theological Seminary Library of Jackson, Mississippi). 2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited by Alice Calaprice, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (Verified on paper) (A search for the quotation was performed within a digital version of the text)Posted on Categories Tags.

Albert Einstein? Fluffy Flapper? James Russell? Anonymous?Dear Quote Investigator: The modern traveler may encounter dangerous drivers who are texting while driving. But another risky behavior has been occurring on roadways for many decades: kissing while driving. The brilliant physicist Albert Einstein supposedly said:Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.I think this ascription is unlikely.

Would you please examine the history of this saying?Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Einstein wrote or spoke the statement above. It is listed within a section called “Probably Not By Einstein” in the comprehensive reference “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press. Einstein died in 1955, and the phrase was implausible attributed to him many years later in a book called “More Sex Talk” in 2002.

Details are given further below.The earliest pertinent match known to QI appeared as a short item in multiple U.S. Newspapers starting in 1923.

The joke employed a dialog format, and its creator was unidentified. Boldface has been added to excerpts:Dorcas—”Do you ever allow a man to kiss you when you’re out motoring with him?”Philippa—”Never, if a man can drive safely while kissing me he’s not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”Many thanks to top researcher Bonnie Taylor-Blake who located and shared several valuable citations via a message at the Snopes website.Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. Notes:.

2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited by Alice Calaprice, Section: Probably Not By Einstein, Quote Page 482, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (Verified on paper). 1923 December 17, Hamilton Daily News, Smiles, Quote Page 15, Column 7, Hamilton, Ohio. (NewspaperArchive) 1924 January 17, The Davenport Democrat and Leader, Safety First (Freestanding filler item), Quote Page 13, Column 4, Davenport, Iowa.

(Newspaperscom). 1924 January 23, Harrisburg Telegraph, Safety First (Freestanding filler item), Quote Page 8, Column 6, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Newspaperscom)Posted on Categories Tags. Albert Einstein? Walter Isaacson? Benson Hamilton? Charles Haddon Spurgeon?

Dorothy Tucker? William Whiting?Dear Quote Investigator: The famous physicist Albert Einstein reportedly used a wonderful simile that compared riding a bicycle with living successfully. Here are three versions:Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.People are like bicycles. They can keep their balance only as long as they keep moving.It is the same with people as it is with riding a bike. Only when moving can one comfortably maintain one’s balance.Would you please explore this topic?

Which version is the most accurate?Quote Investigator: On February 5, 1930 Albert Einstein wrote a letter to his son Eduard that included a remark that has been translated in different ways. In 2007 Walter Isaacson published a biography titled “Einstein: His Life and Universe”; the notes section at the end of the book printed an excerpt from the original text of the letter in German together with a translation by the Information Officer of the Einstein Archives. Boldface has been added to excerpts:The exact quote is: “Beim Menschen ist es wie beim Velo. Nur wenn er faehrt, kann er bequem die Balance halten.” A more literal translation is: “It is the same with people as it is with riding a bike. Only when moving can one comfortably maintain one’s balance.” Courtesy of Barbara Wolff, Einstein archives, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.Further below supplementary citations are presented for alternative versions of the saying ascribed to the acclaimed scientist.Interestingly, the simile has a long history that reaches back into the 1800s in the English language. The early citations found by QI referred to the religious lives of individuals.

Later citations referred to business and secular pursuits.Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.