RE: Inspirational Quote GRAPHIC Series - Exclusively for Steemit / #1 Einstein
what a wonderful simile... but is that really an einstein quote?
trivia time:
The exact quote is: “Beim Menschen ist es wie beim Velo. Nur wenn er faehrt, kann er bequem die Balance halten.” A more literal translation is: “It is the same with people as it is with riding a bike. Only when moving can one comfortably maintain one’s balance.” Courtesy of Barbara Wolff, Einstein archives, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
there are many instances of this figure of speech being used before Einstein. quoteinvestigator.com has an interesting write-up on it. According to them this simile was first(?) used, almost 50 years before Einstein:
In 1882 a periodical about bicycles called “The Wheelman” published a story by Reverend J. Benson Hamilton, and the author attributed an instance of the simile to an unnamed “great preacher”:
“A great preacher,” said he, “says living a religious life is like riding the bicycle: you must go on or come down.”
@fraenk ! you're just too bloody clever, I don't know if the quote is something Einstein just picked up second hand but from reading your response, I can only imagine that he was paraphrasing your version or someone just attributed it. thanks for your eloquent explanation. I prefer the wordy original :) I will be producing a series of them so feel free to mark them as they come !! <> This week I will googlyeye something good
not too clever... but I sure know how to googly!