For An Idea That Does Not First

I Appeal To All Men And Women, Whether They Be Eminent Or Humble, To Declare That They Will Refuse To Give Any Further Assistance To War Or The Preparation Of War.

The Effort To Strive For Truth Has To Precede All Other Efforts.

A Human Being Is A Part Of The Whole Called By Us Universe, A Part Limited In Time And Space. He Experiences Himself, His Thoughts And Feeling As Something Separated From The Rest, A Kind Of Optical Delusion Of His Consciousness. This Delusion Is A Kind Of Prison For Us, Restricting Us To Our Personal Desires And To Affection For A Few Persons Nearest To Us. Our Task Must Be To Free Ourselves From This Prison By Widening Our Circle Of Compassion To Embrace All Living Creatures And The Whole Of Nature In Its Beauty.

The Word 'god' Is For Me Nothing More Than The Expression And Product Of Human Weaknesses, And Religious Scripture A Collection Of Honourable, But Still Primitive Legends Which Are Nevertheless Pretty Childish. No Interpretation, No Matter How Subtle, Can (for Me) Change This.

In Science, Moreover, The Work Of The Individual Is So Bound Up With That Of His Scientific Predecessors And Contemporaries That It Appears Almost As An Impersonal Product Of His Generation.