Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine: "Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives."
Source: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 143
“Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
As quoted by LIFE magazine (2 May 1955)
1950s
Variant: Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
“The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“The value and rank of a learned man is more than his knowledge.”
Ali al-Hadi (829–868) imam
Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.78, p. 3.
Regarding Knowledge & Wisdom, Religious
Thomas Ligotti (1953) American horror author
Description: from U.G Krishnamurti
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror (2010)
Igor Tamm (1895–1971) Russian physicist
as quoted by [Gennadiĭ Efimovich Gorelik, Antonina W. Bouis, The world of Andrei Sakharov: a Russian physicist's path to freedom, Oxford University Press, 2005, 019515620X, 41]
Isaac Asimov book The Tragedy of the Moon
"The Tragedy of the Moon," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (July 1972)
General sources
“A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
No. 574 (30 July 1714).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“One man, by delaying, restored the state to us.
He valued safety more than mob's applause;
Hence now his glory more resplendent grows.”
Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem.
Noenum rumores ponebat ante salutem;
Ergo plusque magisque viri nunc gloria claret.
Ennius (-239–-169 BC) Roman writer
Of Fabius Maximus Cunctator, as quoted by Cicero in De Senectute, Chapter IV (Loeb translation)
