Perfections of mean and confusion of goals seem -in my opinion- to characterize our age. You can't solve today's problems at the same level of thinking you were at when you created them. One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community. The point is to develop the childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition and to guide the child over to important fields for society. Such a school demands from the teacher that he be a kind of artist in his province. The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ... I get most joy in life out of music. It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself. | 
