Steven WeinbergThe effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.
About This Quote
Albert Einstein said, “The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.” Einstein’s words are an open letter to all of humanity. His audience was listening to him on the radio, on the eve of what would be World War II. The world was headed toward an inevitable conflict between Germany and America, but Einstein had something else on his mind. He had something to say about how he felt about mankind’s place in the universe.
To believe in science, which Einstein did, is to understand that we can be meaningfully compared with other life forms. We are not exceptional creatures by any means, but that does not mean we are worthless or insignificant. If we can contemplate our place in the universe, then we can strive for greatness.
Some Similar Quotes
- Weeping is not the same thing as crying. It takes your whole body to weep, and when it's over, you feel like you don't have any bones left to hold you up.
- There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.
- There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.
- The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
- Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel.
More Quotes By Steven Weinberg
- With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion.
- Religion is an insult to human dignity. Without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
- One of the great achievements of science has been, if not to make it impossible for intelligent people to be religious, then at least to make it possible for them not to be religious. We should not retreat from this accomplishment.
- The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.
- It used to be obvious that the world was designed by some sort of intelligence. What else could account for fire and rain and lightning and earthquakes? Above all, the wonderful abilities of living things seemed to point to a creator who had a special...