"Einstein got most of the things right about black holes. I'm not an expert, I must admit"
About this Quote
“Most of the things right” is doing sly work, too. It’s admiration with an escape hatch. Einstein becomes both shield and foil: yes, the genius was broadly correct, but even Einstein didn’t nail everything (and black holes, historically, are where relativity’s elegance meets its weirdest implications). May gestures toward that nuance without having to litigate it. The phrase carries a wink: in science, “most” is a careful, almost conservative claim; in pop talk, it sounds generous. He bridges both registers.
The “I’m not an expert, I must admit” lands as reputational management. May is a rock icon who also has a serious astronomy background; the subtext is that he’s more qualified than he’s pretending to be, but he’s choosing humility as a rhetorical posture. In a culture primed to distrust expertise and to punish public figures for overreach, the line performs a rare, appealing stance: curiosity without entitlement. It’s the celebrity-science ideal, calibrated not to impress, but to be allowed in the room.
Quote Details
| Topic | Science |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
May, Brian. (2026, January 17). Einstein got most of the things right about black holes. I'm not an expert, I must admit. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/einstein-got-most-of-the-things-right-about-black-46991/
Chicago Style
May, Brian. "Einstein got most of the things right about black holes. I'm not an expert, I must admit." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/einstein-got-most-of-the-things-right-about-black-46991/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Einstein got most of the things right about black holes. I'm not an expert, I must admit." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/einstein-got-most-of-the-things-right-about-black-46991/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.



