V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T 3 7 0 b 7 1
a while so that she could shake her habit of regarding him as the cause of all her
bad moods and the lack of fulfillment of all her unclear wishes.–
The planned visit with my wife gives me quite a knot in my stomach. I have far
too little confidence in her decency and
honesty.[6]
After being in Albert’s company
for a longer while, I noticed again that she must speak about me with much ill-will
and lack of
respect.[7]
It was as if the beneficial but less deeply entrenched influ-
ence you had on the boy in this respect had gradually receded into the background
again, against the earlier influences of greater mass
effect.[8]
I know that I must ac-
cept this as a natural consequence of the now prevailing conditions, but do feel a
deep abhorrence toward enlarging the contact surface beyond the absolutely essen-
tial, especially considering that this could hardly be of any use to the woman any-
way. But I will make the visit to see her nonetheless, if you as a discerning and
good-willed bystander deem it desirable, despite all this, that I do so.
I hope you recuperate very well up there and also learn to be a little lazy, despite
your lack of talent on these
points.[9]
Picture for yourself very vividly that in two
years the world will suffer such a severe earthquake that no living being will be
spared; that way you might become acquainted with the attitude that makes life
sweet for us indolent orientals.
Cordial regards; also to your wife, yours,
A. Einstein.
Vol. 8, 370b. To Elsa Einstein
Lucerne, Thursday. [9 August 1917]
Dear Else,
I am living as nicely and peacefully as a cow on alpine pasture, except that in-
stead of flowers and grass, I’m devouring fantastic amounts of zwieback, butter,
honey, and
milk.[1]
And it’s even working. There’s very little diversion here, thank
God, just my correspondence with De Sitter and also with Levi-Civita belongs in
this
chapter.[2]
Both are extremely interesting. I am again easing myself into work-
ing on scientific matters as well. Moszkowski, my friend, don’t bite off more than
you can chew! That would be a tall tale for people to relish; write to the editors in
this sense so that they know that it is not I who recommend him for the review. I
am firmly convinced that he cannot meet this
task.[3]
Maja and
Pauli[4]
are living
an extraordinarily pleasant life. You can hardly imagine such harmony, peace, and
sense of security. That little sacrifice of tidiness and cleanliness is well worth it. I