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Who really said it

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them

Not sourced to Einstein — origin unknown Unknown earliest located appearance: 1969
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

No letter, essay, interview or speech of Einstein’s contains this sentence, in this or any close form. The earliest appearance located is a 1969 paraphrase in the psychological literature, spoken extemporaneously rather than quoted from a text. Einstein did say something adjacent and it is fully citable — but it is a different sentence, and better.

Last verified 20 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

Put it on a slide

Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels. —Albert Einstein, telegram, 24 May 1946 (the genuine line; "we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking…" is not sourced to him)

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Albert Einstein. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Albert Einstein — theoretical physicist. Theme: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

What Einstein actually said

Genuine Einstein line
“A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”
Document
Telegram, Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists
Dated
24 May 1946; reported in The New York Times, 25 May 1946
The popular line
No primary source; earliest located 1969

A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels. 1946 telegram — the real line

Einstein’s genuine, dated sentence on this subject. If you want an Einstein quote about needing new thinking, this is the one that survives checking.

Einstein's 1946 telegram, and the paraphrases spun from it

How we traced it

  • The circulating sentence has no source in Einstein’s corpus. Sourcing collections list it among the unsourced paraphrases that grew out of his 1946 telegram, rather than as anything he wrote sourced entry and its paraphrases ↗.
  • The earliest appearance located is in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology (1969), introducing it as something ‘Einstein said’ in a long, spoken form — traced to Ram Dass talking extemporaneously, and repeated in his 1974 book. We flag this as the earliest located instance, from talk-page research rather than an independent archival trace research thread ↗.
  • Einstein’s real statement on the theme is the telegram of 24 May 1946 for the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, reported the next day in The New York Times under ‘Atomic Education Urged by Einstein.’ It contains no ‘same thinking,’ no ‘level,’ and no problem-creation structure 1946 telegram ↗.

The circulating sentence has no identified author, so there is no rights holder to clear — but it also should not be presented as Einstein’s. The genuine 1946 telegram wording is quotable as a short excerpt with citation; the US status of the 1946 New York Times text depends on renewal, so keep excerpts brief and cite the source. This is not legal advice.

Fact-check

The attribution problem

This is one of the most-repeated Einstein quotations in business writing, and it is not his. The useful part of the answer is that there is a real Einstein line on the same theme — dated, published and quotable.

Not Albert Einstein no primary source

Nothing in Einstein’s letters, essays, interviews or speeches contains this sentence or a close variant. Sourcing collections file it among unsourced paraphrases; Wikiquote does not list it among his sourced statements sourced vs unsourced ↗.

1969, spoken paraphrase of a paraphrase

The oldest instance found is a long spoken form from 1969 — ‘the world that we have made… creates problems that we cannot solve at the same level as the level we created them at’ — already credited to Einstein by the speaker, with no citation research thread ↗.

Management literature many variants

It circulates as ‘the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them’ and ‘no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it’ — all Einstein-credited, none sourced.

Not sourced to Einstein in any form. If you want him on this theme, use the 1946 telegram: ‘A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels’ citation ↗.

Context

Why it resonates

It flatters the reader: it says the way out of a mess is a change of mind, which is exactly what a strategy offsite or a self-help chapter wants to hear. That usefulness is why it spread, and why nobody stopped to ask for a citation.

Einstein’s actual 1946 statement was written under very different pressure — he was raising money to warn the public about atomic weapons, and the ‘new type of thinking’ he demanded was political, not personal.

A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive.

The real line and its imitations

Einstein, 1946 (genuine): ‘A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.’

1969, spoken (earliest located): ‘…creates problems that we cannot solve at the same level as the level we created them at.’

Management-literature form: ‘The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.’

Modern short form: ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Knowledge Change

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Einstein's 1946 telegram — sourced, with its unsourced offspringwist.info

The genuine ‘new type of thinking’ statement with citation, listed alongside the six unsourced paraphrases that circulate from it.
Albert Einstein — Wikiquote research threaden.wikiquote.org

Editors’ tracing of the 1969 appearance and the Ram Dass provenance for the popular wording.
Albert Einstein — Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Separates Einstein’s sourced statements from the large body of lines merely attributed to him.

Popularly credited author

Why it gets pinned on Einstein

Albert Einstein

1879–1955 · theoretical physicist

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) attracts more invented quotations than any other modern figure. His name confers instant authority on any thought about intelligence, imagination or problem-solving, and he wrote enough aphoristic prose that a new one rarely sounds out of place. This line spread through management and self-help literature from the 1980s onward, where an Einstein credit did real persuasive work — and where nobody was checking.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Einstein, Albert. Telegram for the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, 24 May 1946. Reported in “Atomic Education Urged by Einstein,” The New York Times, 25 May 1946.

MLA (9th ed.)

Einstein, Albert. Telegram for the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists. 24 May 1946. “Atomic Education Urged by Einstein,” The New York Times, 25 May 1946.

APA (7th ed.)

Einstein, A. (1946, May 25). Atomic education urged by Einstein. The New York Times.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them’?” Last verified 20 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/we-cannot-solve-our-problems-with-the-same-thinking-we-used

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