“Rumor is rarely more interesting than fact, but it is always more readily available.”

Source: Liber Null & Psychonaut (1987), p. 113
Context: An ancient Chinese curse runs, "May you live in interesting times." Since the fall of the Roman Empire, there has rarely been more interesting times than these. Whenever history becomes unstable and destinies hang in the balance, then magicians and messiahs appear everywhere. Our own civilization has moved into an epoch of permanent crisis and upheaval, and we are beset with a plague of wizards. They serve an historic purpose, for whenever a society undergoes radical change, alternative spiritualities proliferate, and from among these a culture will select a new world view.

As quoted in The Reader's Digest (October 1994), p. 185

Source: The Light of Other Days (2000), Chapter 19

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

Source: A Mask for the General (1987), Chapter 12 (p. 214)

In response to not knowing the speed of sound as included in the Edison Test: New York Times (18 May 1921); Einstein: His Life and Times (1947) Philipp Frank, p. 185; Einstein, A Life (1996) by Denis Brian, p. 129; &quot;Einstein Due Today&quot; (February 2005) edited by József Illy, Manuscript 25-32 of the Einstein Paper Project; all previous sources as per Einstein His Life and Universe (2007) by Walter Isaacson, p. 299 <br class="br">Unsourced variants: &quot;I never commit to memory anything that can easily be looked up in a book&quot; and &quot;Never memorize what you can look up in books.&quot; (The second version is found in &quot;Recording the Experience&quot; (10 June 2004) at The Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/world-record.html, but no citation to Einstein&#x27;s writings is given). <br class="br">1920s

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (2012 — Present), Season 3 (2014)

Vindicated by Time: The Niyogi Committee Report (1998)