There is a popular statement on the Internet by the Nobel laureate that it is impossible to evaluate the abilities of different people according to the same criteria. We checked to see if he said anything similar.

A phrase about the inherent genius of every person, indicating the authorship of Einstein meets on websites quotes And aphorisms, as well as in collections statements of the physicist himself. Social media users share it (“VKontakte", Facebook, X, Threads, Instagram), blog platforms (“Peekaboo", "Zen", LiveJournal) and services questions And answers. The wording in the publications is somewhat different (in one version the fish believes in its stupidity, in the other it considers itself a fool), as often happens when translating from another language, but the meaning remains unchanged.

Quote about how a fish shouldn't be judged by its ability to climb trees. widespread not only in the Russian language, but also in English-speaking segment of the Network, and the wording there does not change from publication to publication. But even in English, the statement is found mainly in posts by users of social networks, on blogs and forums, but not in authoritative sources.

After Einstein's death, all his manuscripts and documents were transferred to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, whose staff carefully systematized and studied this archive and compiled an electronic catalog where you can find this or that quote - if it actually appears in the works of the physicist. However, “Verified” was unable to find in the catalog anything similar to the statement being analyzed: neither a metaphor about a fish that is forced to climb trees, nor a statement that every person is a genius.

Moreover, Einstein, judging by his statements, the authorship of which is beyond doubt, was far from such thoughts. For example, in his book “Ideas and opinions“He wrote: “In the course of a century, only a few enlightened people with a clear mind, style and good taste appear. What has survived from their labors belongs to the most valuable assets of mankind.” It is noteworthy that no less than the pseudo-quote about fish, another statement is widespread on the Internet, also wrong attributed to Einstein and at the same time fundamentally contradicting what is being discussed: “Only two things are infinite: the Universe and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the first one."

Quote Investigator Project Researchers found, apparently, the first case of attribution of a statement to a scientist: Australian author of motivational literature Matthew Kelly began one of the chapters of his book “Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose“Exactly so - with a quote about fish indicating that Einstein said so. The chapter is called “Everyone is a genius,” and then the author invites the reader to ask himself what his genius is. The book was published in 2004, almost half a century after the death of the Nobel laureate.

However, regardless of the quote being analyzed, there are still fish in the world that are able to climb trees, for example mudskipper. This fish can not only swim, but also “walk” using its modified pelvic fins as limbs, and its gills are capable of extracting oxygen from both water and air. The mudskipper can crawl on land, jumps surprisingly deftly and quickly, and is quite capable of climbing a tree. So some fish can still be judged on their ability to climb trees without making them feel like fools.

Thus, Einstein has nothing to do with the statement that every person is a genius unless everyone is treated with the same standard. Like many other statements that have been “verified” more than once sorted it out previously, this phrase was apparently attributed to him either by mistake or to give more weight to his own statements.

Cover photo: Associated Press, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons