“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem—in my opinion—to characterize our age.”
"The Common Language of Science", a broadcast for Science, Conference, London, 28 September 1941. Published in Advancement of Science, London, Vol. 2, No. 5. Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions (1954), the quote appearing on this page http://books.google.com/books?id=OeUoXHoAJMsC&lpg=PP1&pg=PT357#v=onepage&q&f=false.
1940s
As quoted in the essay "To Albert Einstein's Seventieth Birthday" by Arnold Sommerfeld, Albert Einstein : Philosopher-Scientist http://www.worldcat.org/title/albert-einstein-philosopher-scientist/oclc/311439 (1949) edited by Paul A. Schilpp (p. 102). The essay, originally published as "Zum Siebzigsten Geburtstag Albert Einsteins" in Deutsche Beiträge (Eine Zweimonatsschrift) http://www.worldcat.org/title/deutsche-beitrage-eine-zweimonatsschrift/oclc/183334232 Vol. III, No 2, 1949, was translated specifically for the book by Schilpp.
1940s
Variante: Since others have explained my theory, I can no longer understand it myself.
A variant — "Professor Einstein, the learned scientist, once calculated that if all bees disappeared off the earth, four years later all humans would also have disappeared" — appears in The Irish Beekeeper, v.19-20, 1965-66, p74, citing Abeilles et Fleurs (Bees and Flowers, the house magazine of Union Nationale de l'Apiculture Française) for June 1965. Snopes.com mentions its use in a beekeepers' protest in 1994 in Europe http://www.snopes.com/quotes/einstein/bees.asp suggesting invention and attribution to Einstein for political reasons.
Misattributed
“We cannot solve the problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”
"Einstein's famous saying in Copenhagen", as quoted in a FBIS Daily Report https://books.google.de/books?id=DfQTAQAAMAAJ&q=%22We+cannot+solve%22: East Europe (4 April 1995), p. 45
Disputed
Variante: Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth. (said of Mahatma Gandhi)
Fonte: On Peace
“As the area of light expands, so does the perimeter of darkness.”
Variante: As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.
“I do not teach anyone I only provide the environment in which they can learn”
Variante: I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
Fonte: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 142