Einstein talked about reading
Some people who only read newspapers and at most read some books by contemporary writers are, to me, like people who are extremely short-sighted and disdainful of wearing glasses. He was completely obedient to the prejudices and fashions of his time, for he could never see or hear anything else.
If a person thinks on his own and is not stimulated by the thoughts and experiences of others, then even in the best case, what he thinks will not be of any value, and must be monotonous.
In a century, there have been very few Enlighteners with a clear style of thought and a beautiful sense of appreciation. The writings they have left behind are one of the most precious assets of mankind. We owe it to the few writers of antiquity, who were able to gradually free themselves from the superstition and ignorance that had darkened their lives for more than five hundred years.
Nothing could be more important than overcoming the snobbish tackiness of modernism.
The Collected Works of Einstein (Revised Edition)
Einstein is often referred to as a lonely man. The realm of mathematical imagination helps to free the spirit from the multitude of mundane objects, and in that sense I think he is indeed a lonely man.
- Tagore
