“Your question is the most difficult in the world. It is not a question I can answer simply with yes or no. I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. May I not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought. Spinoza is the greatest of modern philosophers, because he is the first philosopher who deals with the soul and the body as one, not as two separate things.”

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About Albert Einstein

German-born theoretical physicist

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist known for developing the theory of relativity. He also made major contributions to quantum theory and was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on theoretical physics, especially his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. Einstein is closely associated with mass-energy equivalence, expressed in the formula E = mc2, which comes from special relativity and has been called the world’s most famous equation. His work reshaped modern physics and continues to define how his name is remembered.

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Books by Albert Einstein

Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie

1917

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Mein Weltbild

1934

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Out of my later years

1492

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Relativity

1998

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The travel diaries of Albert Einstein

2018

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