"Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds"
About this Quote
The subtext is a warning about how easily perception becomes choreography. Humans don’t just observe; we filter, rationalize, and retrofit. In science, that looks like confirmation bias, allegiance to established models, and the temptation to treat equations as scripture. Einstein, who overturned Newtonian common sense with relativity, knew that the obstacle wasn’t a lack of data but an excess of mental autopilot. The quote flatters nobody, including scientists: expertise can calcify into a new kind of blindness.
Context matters. Einstein came up in an era when physics was being remade, when “common sense” failed at high speeds and small scales, and when social life in Europe was saturated with nationalism and herd thinking. Read that way, the line isn’t just epistemology; it’s a civic critique. Democracies, laboratories, and timelines all depend on the same rare skill: resisting the comfort of inherited narratives long enough to look, and then think, for yourself.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Einstein, Albert. (2026, January 15). Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/small-is-the-number-of-people-who-see-with-their-34581/
Chicago Style
Einstein, Albert. "Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/small-is-the-number-of-people-who-see-with-their-34581/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/small-is-the-number-of-people-who-see-with-their-34581/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.












