http://home.iitk.ac.in/~vinit/folder/Albert%20Einstien/albert_einstein_the_world_as_i_see_it_txt.pdf
Congratulations to Dr. Solf
I am delighted to be able to offer you, Dr. Solf, the heartiest congratulations,
the congratulations of Lessing College, of which you have become an
indispensable pillar, and the congratulations of all who are convinced of the
need for close contact between
science and art and the public which is
hungry
for spiritual nourishment.
You have not hesitated to apply your energies to a field where there are no
laurels to be won, but quiet, loyal work to be done in the interests of the
general standard of intellectual and spiritual life, which is in peculiar danger
to-day owing to a variety of circumstances.
Exaggerated respect for athletics,
an excess of coarse impressions which the complications of life through the
technical discoveries of recent years has brought with it, the increased severity
of the struggle for existence due to the economic crisis, the brutalization of
political life--all these factors are hostile to the ripening of the character and
the desire for real culture, and stamp our age as barbarous, materialistic, and
superficial. Specialization in every sphere of intellectual work is producing an
everwidening gulf between the intellectual worker and the non-specialist,
which makes it more difficult for the life of the nation to be fertilized and
enriched by the achievements of art and science.
But contact between the intellectual and the masses must not be lost. It is
necessary for the elevation of society and no less so for renewing the strength
of the intellectual worker; for the flower of science does not grow in the
desert. For this reason you, Herr Solf, have devoted a portion of your
energies to Lessing College, and we are grateful to you for doing so. And we
wish you further success and happiness in your work for this noble cause.
Of Wealth
I am absolutely convinced that
no wealth in the world can help humanity forward, even in the hands of the most devoted worker in this cause. The
example of great and pure characters is the only thing that can produce fine
ideas and noble deeds.
Money only appeals to selfishness and always tempts
its owners irresistibly to abuse it.
Can anyone imagine Moses, Jesus, or Gandhi armed with the money-bags of
Carnegie?
Teachers and Pupils
An address to children
(The principal art of the teacher is to awaken the joy in creation
and knowledge.)
My dear Children,
I rejoice to see you before me to-day, happy youth of a sunny and fortunate
land.
Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work
of many generations, produced by enthusiastic effort and infinite labour in
every country of the world. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance
in order that you may receive it, honour it, add to it, and one day faithfully
hand it on to your children. Thus do we mortals achieve immortality in the
permanent things which we create in common.
If you always keep that in mind you will find a meaning in life and work and
acquire the right attitude towards other nations and ages.
Paradise Lost
As late as the seventeenth century the savants and artists of all Europe were
so closely united by the bond of a common ideal that co-operation between
them was scarcely affected by political events. This unity was further
strengthened by the general use of the Latin language.
To-day we look back at this state of affairs as at a lost paradise. The passions
of nationalism have destroyed this community of the intellect, and the Latin
language, which once united the whole world, is dead. The men of learning
have become the chief mouthpieces of national tradition and lost their sense of
an
intellectual commonwealth.
Nowadays we are faced with the curious fact that the politicians, the practical
men of affairs, have become the exponents of international ideas. It is they
who have created the League of Nations.
