"Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become"
About this Quote
The biblical cadence of "six years... the seventh" echoes Sabbath logic, but he repurposes rest into recalibration. Solitude isn't romantic; it's strategic. "Among strangers" is the sharper option: anonymity as an experimental condition. With strangers, you don't have to defend your evolution, narrate your choices, or perform continuity. You can simply be the new result.
Szilard's context matters. A Hungarian Jewish physicist who moved across borders and disciplines, he lived through the collapse of old worlds and helped birth a terrifying new one, pushing the chain reaction idea and later warning about nuclear catastrophe. For an exile and a builder of unprecedented futures, the past isn't quaint; it's dangerous. The subtext is both psychological and political: to become what history demands, you may need distance from the people who love you for what you used to be.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reinvention |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Szilard, Leo. (2026, January 16). Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/do-your-work-for-six-years-but-in-the-seventh-go-134002/
Chicago Style
Szilard, Leo. "Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/do-your-work-for-six-years-but-in-the-seventh-go-134002/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/do-your-work-for-six-years-but-in-the-seventh-go-134002/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.









