The number one bicycle quote of all time
“Life is like riding a bicycle,” by Albert Einstein, is — or at least, was — my personal favorite bicycle quote. Back in 1999, when I started this website, hardly anyone had heard this quote. Now, partly due to our website, it is probably the most famous and well-loved bicycle quote of all time. However, as you will see below these quotes are paraphrased — dumbed down for the masses — as so many are.
Albert Einstein letter to his son Eduard, 1930.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein in reference to the Theory of Relativity.
I thought of that while riding my bicycle.
These are some of my favorite quotes by one of my personal heroes. Since we published this online back in 1999, it has proliferated over the internet like a virus. Thousands and thousands of websites reference this quote, and hundreds of picture memes have been created. Above you’ll see one of the originals. But, it looks like I might be guilty of popularizing this fake quote! And — believe me — I do countless hours of research and cross-referencing. However, back then, this source information wasn’t so easily available.
Warning: Like most things, Einstein’s bicycle quote may have been borrowed, evolved or corrupted, depending on your point of view. The exact quote from Albert Einstein was:
Beim Menschen ist es wie beim Velo. Nur wenn er faehrt, kann er bequem die Balance halten.
It is the same with people as it is with riding a bike. Only when moving can one comfortably maintain one’s balance.
Albert Einstein. Translation courtesy of Barbara Wolff, Einstein archives, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.*
For a complete breakdown of this quote and a dozen similar quotes that may have influenced Einstein, please visit the Quote Investigator.
*2007, Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, Section: Notes, Epigraph: 1, Quote Page 565, Location 10155, Simon & Schuster, New York. (Kindle Edition)
