Quote of the day by Albert Einstein: 'Everything is determined, every beginning and ending, by forces over which we have no control...' - Why the concept of free will might be an illusion explained by the genius scientis

Some of Albert Einstein’s most interesting thoughts were not limited to physics. The scientist also had strong views about human life, fate and the limits of free will. One such thought appeared in a 1929 interview, where Einstein spoke about how much control people really have over the course of their lives. His words offered a very different way of looking at success, failure and even the choices people believe they make for themselves.

Quote of the day by Albert Einstein

“Everything is determined, every beginning and ending, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - Albert Einstein

The quote points towards Einstein’s belief in determinism, the idea that events do not simply happen because of independent choices but are shaped by forces and conditions that are already there. In the original interview, Einstein went even further and described himself as a determinist who did not believe in free will in the usual sense. The discussion came during an interview with writer George Sylvester Viereck, published as “What Life Means to Einstein” in The Saturday Evening Post on October 26, 1929.


The comparison between an insect, a star, a human being, vegetables and cosmic dust makes the point wider. Einstein was placing human beings inside nature rather than treating them as something completely separate from it. People may feel that they are directing every part of their lives, but their circumstances, biology, surroundings and countless other factors also shape what eventually happens. The “invisible piper” is therefore a way of describing forces that are present even when we cannot see or control them. The wording also fits the larger discussion in the interview, where Einstein said that his own career had been determined by factors beyond his control.

Einstein did not have an easy beginning

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany, and spent much of his childhood in Munich. He later moved to Switzerland and studied mathematics and physics at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich. Contrary to the popular story that he was simply a poor student, accounts of his education show that he did well in mathematics and natural sciences. He became a Swiss citizen in 1901.

After graduating, Einstein struggled to find an academic position. In 1902, he eventually took a job as a technical expert at the Swiss patent office in Bern. It was while working there that he produced the papers that would change modern physics.

The year that changed physics

In 1905, Einstein published four major scientific papers. They dealt with subjects including the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion and special relativity, while another paper established the relationship between mass and energy represented by E=mc². The year later became known as Einstein’s “miracle year.”

Yet his work did not immediately make him a worldwide celebrity. His general theory of relativity took years more to develop. Einstein published the completed theory in 1915, and its prediction that gravity could bend light was tested during the solar eclipse of 1919. Arthur Eddington’s observations showed the expected deflection of starlight, turning Einstein into an international scientific celebrity almost overnight.

From physicist to worldwide celebrity

Einstein’s fame grew rapidly after the 1919 eclipse. Newspapers, magazines and photographs helped turn a previously little-known physicist into one of the most recognisable scientists in the world. His work was difficult for most people to understand, but his name itself became linked with intelligence and scientific genius.

In 1921, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, mainly for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. His relativity work was still controversial among members of the Nobel committee, so the prize was not awarded specifically for relativity.

At the same time, Einstein continued thinking about problems that physics had not solved. He remained deeply interested in finding a unified field theory that could bring different parts of physics into one framework. He also became an important critic of some interpretations of quantum mechanics, particularly the idea that nature was fundamentally governed by probability.

Einstein's final years in Princeton

The rise of Adolf Hitler and the increasingly hostile environment in Germany changed Einstein’s life again. He left Germany in 1933 and settled in Princeton, New Jersey, where he joined the Institute for Advanced Study. He remained there until his death in 1955.

His later years were marked by continued scientific work, political concerns and his efforts to speak about peace and the dangers of nuclear weapons. He never completed the unified theory he had spent so much time pursuing.

The quote from 1929 therefore sits alongside a life that was itself shaped by circumstances Einstein could not fully control. His career moved from a patent office in Bern to the centre of world science, while political events eventually forced him away from Germany. His own words about an “invisible piper” can be read as a reminder that even a person who changes the way humanity understands the universe is still part of the same uncertain chain of events.