Quick answer“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” is a famous quote by Albert Einstein. It comes from Letter to Eduard Einstein, 5 February 1930. In a letter to his son Eduard in February 1930, Albert Einstein compared people to cyclists: balance holds only while you keep moving.
In a letter to his son Eduard in February 1930, Albert Einstein compared people to cyclists: balance holds only while you keep moving. The sentence survives in a polished English form that has become one of his best-loved sayings.
Origin: Written by Einstein in German in a letter to his younger son Eduard on 5 February 1930 (Einstein Archives 75-990), published with an English translation in Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007). The familiar English sentence is the widely used rendering of the German; literally it reads: 'It is the same with people as it is with riding a bike. Only when moving can one comfortably maintain one's balance.' Einstein compared people, not 'life', to a bicycle, so the popular wording is a polished translation, not a word-for-word rendering.
Translated from German.
Key facts
| Quote | “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” |
|---|---|
| Author | Albert Einstein |
| Source | Letter to Eduard Einstein, 5 February 1930 |
| Themes | life, motivation |
| Language | German (translation) |
| Original | “Beim Menschen ist es wie beim Velo. Nur wenn er fährt, kann er bequem die Balance halten.” |
Overview
Einstein wrote the letter when Eduard, his younger son, was struggling, and the bicycle was his way of urging him to keep working rather than give up. The comparison itself was not new: English cycling magazines had used it since the 1880s, and preachers and business writers had borrowed it too. What makes Einstein's version famous is the plain image of balance depending on motion, and the fact that it comes from a father writing to his son. The German sentence is worth knowing in full: Einstein wrote about people, not about 'life', and his wording is more concrete than the polished English line. Walter Isaacson's biography (2007) printed the German original with a literal translation, and that is the version scholars cite. The popular sentence keeps the meaning, but it is a smoothing of Einstein's words, not a word-for-word translation.
Frequently asked questions
When did Einstein write this?
On 5 February 1930, in a letter to his younger son Eduard Einstein. The letter is preserved in the Einstein Archives in Jerusalem (75-990) and was first published, with an English translation, in Walter Isaacson's biography Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007).
What did he write in German?
'Beim Menschen ist es wie beim Velo. Nur wenn er fährt, kann er bequem die Balance halten.' Literally: 'It is the same with people as it is with riding a bike. Only when moving can one comfortably maintain one's balance.' Einstein compared people to cyclists, not 'life' to a bicycle.
Is the famous English wording exact?
Not word for word. The familiar sentence, 'Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving,' is a polished rendering of Einstein's German. It keeps his meaning and his image, but the literal translation speaks of people rather than life, and of holding one's balance comfortably.
Who was Eduard?
Eduard Einstein (1910-1965) was Albert Einstein's younger son, by his first wife Mileva Maric. He was a gifted student who planned to become a psychiatrist, but serious mental illness ended his studies, and he spent most of his adult life in care in Switzerland.
Related quotes
- “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” — Albert Einstein
- “The important thing is not to stop questioning.” — Albert Einstein
- “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” — William Shakespeare
- “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” — Thomas Edison
- “I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.” — Ludwig van Beethoven
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Last updated: . Figures are shown with their year; where sources disagree, the value is left out rather than estimated.