"It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature"
About this Quote
The sentence pivots on “insecurity before himself and before nature,” pairing inner turmoil with external threat. That doubling matters. Modernity isn’t only storms, disease, and earthquakes; it’s the anxiety of being a self in a world that doesn’t care. Einstein suggests science answers both forms of dread by replacing mysterious forces with intelligible patterns, and by giving people a sense of agency grounded in evidence rather than wish. “Overcome” is strong - not “reduced,” not “managed.” He’s making an aspirational claim about intellectual emancipation: knowledge as a cure for existential flinching.
Contextually, it reads like a mid-century defense of rational inquiry after Europe’s catastrophes, when faith in “progress” was badly bruised. Einstein, a refugee from nationalist madness, isn’t naive about human behavior; he’s staking out a narrower hope. Science can’t guarantee wisdom or decency, but it can disarm a particular kind of fear - the kind that makes people reach for myth, scapegoats, and strongmen when reality feels ungraspable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Science |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Einstein, Albert. (2026, January 17). It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-stands-to-the-everlasting-credit-of-science-34867/
Chicago Style
Einstein, Albert. "It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-stands-to-the-everlasting-credit-of-science-34867/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-stands-to-the-everlasting-credit-of-science-34867/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.







