252 DOCS.
346,
347
JANUARY
1912
a man
who would devote
himself
to
the
task in
question
with
more
skill
than
would be
the
case
with
me.[2]
Thanking
you again cordially
for
your
kindness, I
remain
yours very truly,
A.
Einstein
347. From Heinrich
Zangger
[Zurich]
30
January
1912
Dear
Einstein,
Life
is
terribly complicated
nowadays,
and
this
only
because there
are
people
who
think that
one
is
better
off
than
one is,
that
one
is
more egoistic
than
one is,
that
one
is
more
power-hungry
than
one
is,
and
that
one
wants
what
they
want-people whose
sinister
urges
make them
consider
a
non-egoist
as someone
who
deserves
to
be
destroyed,
and
who
rejoice
that these
days
such
people really
do not
extricate themselves
from
moral
difficulties,
and
are
not allowed to
free
themselves from
worrying
about their
families; they
dangle
all
private
means
high
above
their heads
and
sense
very
well
that
the best
way
to
paralyze
them
in
their
creative
pride is
to force
them into
begging,
or
into
a
dishonest
pose
and furtive
visits,
so
that
one no
longer
has
any
advantage
over
them.
At
any
rate,
I
am lately
rather
paralyzed
under
great pressure
so
that
my eyes
tear
over
the
work,
the
great
amount
of
work
for
the
authorities, since
expert
opinions,
for
which I
am
not
paid,
still
cost
me dearly.[1]
This
is
how base
the
government
is.
For
example,
they
have
printed major expert opinions
by
the
government
without
my
knowledge
and without
even
mentioning
my name.
So, even
those
closest
to
me
consider
me
pitiably
inept
and
inconsiderate of the
family,
and I
don't
even
know to
what
extent
they
are right.
Perhaps I
should
have
become
a
monk then
I would have felt this
spiritually
in
the
individual
person
but
not
the
brutality
of
life,
in which
the
horrible
pressures
caused
by
the
rapid
shifts
of
our
time
have such
a
crushing
effect, because,
like
so many
Neros,
the
mighty
watch
the
gladiatorial
combats
with
debasing
and corrosive
self-regard
and
psychic
impoverishment,
where
little
things
would have
helped,
and
the
energy-wasting age
deserves,
more
than
any
other,
to
be
destroyed
if it does
not
seek
to create chances
for
happiness
in
an
honest
way as
well,
which
is
so
easy-and
so
liberating.-
Sunday[2]
I
have
written
to the
president[3]
of
the Federal
Council
asking
him to
send
you
the
definitive
announcement
as soon as possible.[4]
Forrer
was
very
happy
that
he
is
sending me a
telegram proves
this
11
o'clock
the
election,
11:20
report.
The
Swiss
are
at
it,
after all-those
who
are
at it