A thought for you

Source and context

This wording appears in George Sylvester Viereck’s interview What Life Means to Einstein, published in The Saturday Evening Post on 26 October 1929. The sentence is in the third text column on printed page 117.

Read the interview scan (PDF page 5, hosted by gwern.net). The American Institute of Physics exhibition also reproduces the passage. This is evidence of the published English interview report; it is not an audio recording or a German manuscript.

What the surrounding passage adds

Immediately before this sentence, Einstein discusses Henry Ford and the attention that wealth and power can attract. He then distinguishes external honours from the enjoyment he finds in work, music and sailing, while also valuing appreciation from colleagues. That last point matters: the passage does not simply dismiss every form of recognition or human connection.

A small experiment with enjoyment and approval

Choose something you would still enjoy if nobody heard about it: sketching, repairing a small object or reading a few pages, for example. Give it ten minutes without posting an update. Afterwards, write down what held your attention and what response from someone else you had hoped for. Keep the two observations separate. You can value an activity for its own sake and still want useful feedback or companionship. This exercise is our present-day suggestion, not part of Einstein’s interview, and it is not a reason to refuse support you need.

English wording and context reviewed 27 October 2026. Editorial note and exercise: Motivation4you.