The Idea Of A Personal God Is

I Do Not Believe That A Moral Philosophy Can Ever Be Founded On A Scientific Basis. … The Valuation Of Life And All Its Nobler Expressions Can Only Come Out Of The Soul’s Yearning Toward Its Own Destiny. Every Attempt To Reduce Ethics To Scientific Formulas Must Fail. Of That I Am Perfectly Convinced.

Measured Objectively, What A Man Can Wrest From Truth By Passionate Striving Is Utterly Infinitesimal. But The Striving Frees Us From The Bonds Of The Self And Makes Us Comrades Of Those Who Are The Best And The Greatest.

My Position Concerning God Is That Of An Agnostic. I Am Convinced That A Vivid Consciousness Of The Primary Importance Of Moral Principles For The Betterment And Ennoblement Of Life Does Not Need The Idea Of A Law-giver, Especially A Law-giver Who Works On The Basis Of Reward And Punishment.

However We Select From Nature A Complex [of Phenomena] Using The Criterion Of Simplicity, In No Case Will Its Theoretical Treatment Turn Out To Be Forever Appropriate (sufficient).... I Do Not Doubt That The Day Will Come When [general Relativity], Too, Will Have To Yield To Another One, For Reasons Which At Present We Do Not Yet Surmise. I Believe That This Process Of Deepening Theory Has No Limits.

There Is Nothing Divine About Morality; It Is A Purely Human Affair. If People Are Good Only Because They Fear Punishment, And Hope For Reward, Then We Are A Sorry Lot Indeed. What The Individual Can Do Is To Give A Fine Example, And To Have The Courage To Uphold Ethical Values .. In A Society Of Cynics.