The famous scientist is often attributed to the statement that human stupidity has no limit. We checked whether such an attribution is correct.

As a statement by Einstein, this phrase in slightly different formulations can be found on sites with quotes collections, in particular “Quotes.info" Citaty.net, Socratify.net And "Great words". It is published by popular publics in "VKontakte"as well as users Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, "Yandex.Zen" and other social networks and a blog-platform.

By data The quote investigator portal, the earliest mention of this phrase in printed sources is a book of a psychiatrist, founder Gestalt therapy of Fredrick Perls “Ego, hunger and aggression: revision of the theory and method of Freud” (1942).

The phrase of interest to us Found In this context: “This impatient, greedy attitude is more than anything else, causes the excessive stupidity that we observe in the world. Just as people do not have enough patience to cheat real food, they do not devote enough time to "chewing" the spiritual food. Since current times significantly contribute to hasty nutrition, it is not surprising that the Great Astronon said: "Two things are endless, as far as we know: the universe and human stupidity." Now we know that this statement is not entirely correct. Einstein proved that the universe is finite. ”

As can be seen from this fragment, the quote was initially attributed to the “great astronomer”, and Einstein is mentioned later in the subsequent clarifying sentence. Moreover, in their later works, published after death Physics in 1955, Perls begins to call the author of the phrase of Einstein. For example, in 1969 a psychiatrist Writes: "As Albert Einstein once told me:" Two things are endless: the universe and human stupidity. " Then, in another text, a augmented version of the phrase appears, which has become especially popular in social networks: "Two things are endless: the universe and human stupidity - and I am not entirely sure about the universe."

Moreover, very similar expressions can be found in the texts that appeared before Perls's book. In the 1915 magazine Given A quote from the French philosopher Ernest Renan "not stars give an idea of infinity, but the stupidity of man." At the same time, Renan's statement Found In different versions, it is not found in its own texts, therefore, here we may be dealing with false attribution. In 1880, Guy de Maupassant in the book des Vers Published A quote from a letter from Gustav Flaubert: “The Earth has its own borders, and human stupidity is unlimited!”

So, with a great degree of confidence, it can be argued that it was Perls to Einstein. Moreover, in his text of 1942, the statement of the “Great Astronomer” and the name of the physicist are simply mentioned nearby, and after almost three decades Einstein is already listed as its author. Note that in later texts, Perls begins to refer to a personal conversation with the scientist, while in any other sources the phrase as an Einstein quote is not mentioned. Most likely, the psychiatrist failed its own memory, in which over almost 30 years the phrase of the “great astronomer” turned into the words of the great physicist, while supplemented by clarification about the uncertainty about the infinity of the universe.