Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Source: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 135
“The intellect has a sharp eye for methods and tools, but is blind to ends and values.”
"The Goal of Human Existence" (1943)
1950s, Out of My Later Years (1950)
Context: And certainly we should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. It cannot lead, it can only serve; and it is not fastidious in its choice of a leader. This characteristic is reflected in the qualities of its priests, the intellectuals. The intellect has a sharp eye for methods and tools, but is blind to ends and values. So it is no wonder that this fatal blindness is handed on from old to young and today involves a whole generation.
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German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativi… 1879–1955Related quotes
Evelyn Underhill book Practical Mysticism
Source: Practical Mysticism (1914), Chapter VIII, The Second Form Of Contemplation, p. 140
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist
On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense (1873)
Context: The pride connected with knowing and sensing lies like a blinding fog over the eyes and senses of men, thus deceiving them concerning the value of existence. For this pride contains within itself the most flattering estimation of the value of knowing. Deception is the most general effect of such pride, but even its most particular effects contain within themselves something of the same deceitful character.
John Tukey The Technical Tools of Statistics
The Technical Tools of Statistics. The American Statistician 34 (1). Online at https://www.jstor.org/stable/2682374
Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1819–1820)
Source: "Rip Van Winkle".
“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
1914: "If…we were to go back to…'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' there would be very few [Honourable] Gentlemen in this House who would not…be blind and toothless." — George Perry Graham, during a debate on capital punishment before the Canadian House of Commons. Official Report of the Debates of the House of Commons of the Dominion of Canada, Third Session-Twelfth Parliament, Vol CXIII, p. 496, February 5, 1914. http://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC1203_01/508 <br class="br">1950: "An-eye-for-an-eye-for-an-eye-for-an-eye … ends in making everybody blind" in The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer (1950), though Fischer did not attribute it to Gandhi and seemed to be giving his own description of Gandhi's philosophy. <br class="br">1958: "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind" in Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story by Martin Luther King, Jr., 1958. <br class="br">1982: "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind" in the 1982 film, Gandhi. In a 1993 biographical article about screenwriter John Briley, Jon Krampner wrote, "…Gandhi never said it. Michigan graduate John Briley put those pithy words in his mouth." From "John Briley '51 - Epic Screenwriter", Michigan Today, March 1993, p. 12. http://michigantoday.umich.edu/93/Mar_and_Oct_93/Mar_93/briley.html <br class="br">2006: There is a quaternary source in Yale Book of Quotations http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=w5-GR-qtgXsC&pg=PA269&dq=whole-world-blind+ (2006), in which editor Fred R. Shapiro states that the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence stated that Gandhi's family believes it authentic, but did not provide any further reference and provided no year, place or body of work. <br class="br">2006: Discussed in The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When, by Ralph Keyes (2006), 1st ed., p. 74. <br class="br">2010: Research detailed by Garson O'Toole in "An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind" http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/27/eye-for-eye-blind/ in Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/. <br class="br">Misattributed
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet
28 August 1893
New Lamps for Old (1893)
“The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
"An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind" is of indefinite origin, but has been disputably attributed to various figures, including Mahatma Gandhi. This variant describing it as an "old law" is attributed to King in The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., (2008) http://books.google.com/books?id=irMxJS36904C&redir_esc=y by Coretta Scott King, Second Edition ; it also occurs in the credits of Spike Lee's movie Do the Right Thing (1989). <br class="br">Disputed