3 0 D O C U M E N T S 3 5 , 3 6 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 1
Your consideration therefore lacks any clear sense; you do have to admit this
upon detached consideration. I won’t write more so as not to distract you from pon-
dering this main point. As long as this has not been fully cleared up, any continua-
tion of the correspondence has no
point.[2]
Best regards, yours,
A. Einstein.
35. To Walter Hasenclever
[Berlin,] 27 January 1921
Dear Mr. Hasenclever,
Lacking the conviction of having anything original to say or even worthy of pub-
lication about the topic you mentioned, I send you the enclosed aphoristic
statement[1]
to demonstrate to you my good will. If my ink were less viscous, I
would have done justice to the wish expressed in your k[ind] letter with a more
ample opus.
In utm[ost] respect.
36. From Felix Ehrenhaft
Vienna IX, 5 Boltzmanngasse, 28 January 1921
Dear Mr. Einstein,
First of all forgive me that I am not writing you by hand; you would anyway gain
little pleasure from the scrawl. I am delighted with your dear letter and thank you
cordially for it. Likewise I convey to you my wife’s thanks to your gracious
wife.[1]
My wife will write your gracious wife herself in a few days, when her time allows.
I very much regret your little mishap in
Dresden.[2]
But I cannot absolve you of
all guilt; as I see, you have discovered the humor in the matter; it is a strange play
of chance that General Director
Lederer[3]
personally drew your attention to going
to Hotel Bellevue. In any event, you arrived safely in Berlin and that is the main
thing.
My wife and I were infinitely pleased that you felt halfway comfortable in
Vienna and we also thank you warmly especially for your nice
visit.[4]
It was just
a modest beginning and we definitely count on our agreement being kept and that
this joint calculation will not ultimately shrink away like the selenium droplet. My
wife will, moreover, take the liberty of writing more specifically to your gracious
wife about this point.