Albert Einstein? Frederick S. Perls? Anonymous? A Great Astronomer?
Question for Quote Investigator: I saw a comic strip that contained a quotation that is usually attributed to Einstein:
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe!
I am skeptical because I have not seen a solid citation. Would you please the explore the provenance of this remark?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Probably not, but there is some evidence, and QI can tell you why the quote is attributed to Einstein. The story begins in the 1940s when the influential Gestalt therapist Frederick S. Perls wrote a book titled “Ego, Hunger, and Aggression: a Revision of Freud’s Theory and Method.”
This book contains the earliest version of the quotation that QI has located. It occurs in a chapter called “Hunger Instinct”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Furthermore, this impatient, greedy attitude is responsible more than anything else for the excessive stupidity we find in the world. Just as such people have no patience to chew up real food, so they do not take sufficient time to “chew up” mental food.
As modern times promote hasty eating to a large extent, it is not surprising to learn that a great astronomer said: “Two things are infinite, as far as we know – the universe and human stupidity.” To-day we know that this statement is not quite correct. Einstein has proved that the universe is limited.
The quote is attributed to “a great astronomer.” The theories of Einstein did have important astronomical implications, but it is odd to label him an astronomer. Also, the subsequent comment by Perls depicts Einstein’s results disagreeing with the quotation. However, it is conceivable that Perls is referring to Einstein. On page 86 of the book Perls discusses astronomy and credits Einstein with advances in the field:2
Freud has shifted the orientation of our personal existence from the periphery of consciousness to the Unconscious, just as Galileo dethroned the Earth from the centre of the Universe. And just as astronomy—having to acknowledge ever more “fixed points” and systems as merely relatively “absolute”—had previously taken its stand on the conception of the ether, so Freud created his libido-theory. …
An observation of Leverrier gave Einstein the basis for exploding the phantasy of the ether.
The first citation is arguably ambiguous or misleading. However, in later books Perls unambiguously attributes the saying to Einstein. Two books were published by Perls in 1969, and the following excerpt is from “Gestalt Therapy Verbatim”. Note that Perls has simplified the original quote by deleting the phrase “as far as we know”:3
As Albert Einstein once said to me: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity.” But what is much more widespread than the actual stupidity is the playing stupid, turning off your ear, not listening, not seeing.
Also in 1969 Perls published “In and Out the Garbage Pail” which is labeled a “novel autobiography” in an advertising blurb in “Gestalt Therapy Verbatim”. The quotation presented in this work is a new extended version. The tagline included at the end brings this statement closer to the one that cartoonist Bill Griffith uses in the Zippy comic:4
I spent one afternoon with Albert Einstein: unpretentiousness, warmth, some false political predictions. I soon lost my self-consciousness, a rare treat for me at that time. I still love to quote a statement of his: “Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe.”
As an aside, the notion that human stupidity is unlimited has a long history. An entertaining precursor statement written in French appeared in volume 2 of the “Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXe Siècle” (Great Universal Dictionary of the Nineteenth Century) within an entry for “Bêtise” (Stupidity). This volume was published circa 1865, and the quotation was credited to Alexandre Dumas:5
Une chose qui m’humilie profondément est de voir que le génie humain a des limites, quand la bêtise humaine n’en a pas. (Alex. Dum.)
Here is one possible translation into English:
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not.
A separate QI article tracing the Dumas attributed statement is available here.
In conclusion, this quotation has evolved over time in the books of Frederick S. Perls. A sub-phrase was deleted and a sub-phrase was added. Also, the initial attribution in 1947 is not very clear. The accuracy of the saying apparently depends on the mutable memory of Perls.
Acknowledgement: This question was inspired by a posting on the ADS list from linguist Arnold Zwicky. Thanks to Jesse M. and Garry Apgar who highlighted the connection to other jokes asserting that human stupidity has no limits which led QI to add the 1865 citation for a quip attributed to Dumas together with a crosslink to an existing QI article.
Update History: On January 5, 2019 the 1865 citation was added together with a link to the separate QI article on the topic. In addition, the bibliographic notes were changed to a numeric style. On January 2, 2025 the format of the bibliographical notes was further updated, and the beginning of the article was revised.
- 1947, Ego, Hunger, and Aggression: a Revision of Freud’s Theory and Method by Frederick S. Perls, Page 111, George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London. (Verified on paper in 1947 London edition. An earlier edition was published in 1942 in Durban, South Africa; QI has not checked the 1942 edition.) link ↩︎
- 1947, Ego, Hunger, and Aggression: a Revision of Freud’s Theory and Method by Frederick S. Perls, Page 111, George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London. (Verified on paper in 1947 London edition. An earlier edition was published in 1942 in Durban, South Africa; QI has not checked the 1942 edition.) link ↩︎
- 1969, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim by Frederick S. Perls, Page 33, Real People Press, Lafayette, California. (Verified on paper in 1969 edition) link ↩︎
- 1969, In and Out the Garbage Pail by Frederick S. Perls, Page 52 (Pages are not numbered in this 1969 edition. The number 52 was obtained manually counting), Real People Press, Lafayette, California. (Verified on paper in 1969 edition) ↩︎
- Circa 1865, Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXe Siècle: Français, Historique, Géographique, Mythologique, Bibliographique, etcetera, Volume 2, Entry: Bêtise, Quote Page 650, Column 1, Published by Pierre Larousse, Paris. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎