Attributed to Einstein in Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography by Carl Seelig (1956), p. 114. Einstein is said to have made this remark "when someone in his company grew angry about a mutual acquaintance's moral decline".

As far as I'm concerned I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.

— Albert Einstein

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "As far as I'm concerned I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue." in the context of "Attributed to Einstein in Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography by Carl Seelig (1956), p. 114. Einstein is said to have made this remark "when someone in his company grew angry about a mutual acquaintance's moral decline"." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Albert Einstein" (Quotes, Attributed in posthumous publications: Posthumous quotes can be particularly problematic, especially where earlier sources are not cited at all. ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 08, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Albert Einstein

About Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a Jewish German theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest physicists of all time. Einstein is known for developing the theory of relativity, but he also made important contributions to the development of the theory of quantum mechanics. Together, relativity and quantum mechanics are the two pillars of modern physics. He won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.