“The capital ... shall form a fund, the interest of which shall be distributed annually as prizes to those persons who shall have rendered humanity the best services during the past year. ... One-fifth to the person having made the most important discovery or invention in the science of physics, one-fifth to the person who has made the most eminent discovery or improvement in chemistry, one-fifth to the one having made the most important discovery with regard to physiology or medicine, one-fifth to the person who has produced the most distinguished idealistic work of literature, and one-fifth to the person who has worked the most or best for advancing the fraternization of all nations and for abolishing or diminishing the standing armies as well as for the forming or propagation of committees of peace.”

“I have not the slightest pretension to call my verses poetry I write now and then for no other purpose than to relieve depression or to improve my English. ”

“Good wishes alone will not ensure peace.”

“Justice is to be found only in imagination.”

“One can state, without exaggeration, that the observation of and the search for similarities and differences are the basis of all human knowledge.”

“If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied.”

“A heart can no more be forced to love than a stomach can be forced to digest food by persuasion.”

“I am a misanthrope and yet utterly benevolent, have more than one screw loose yet am a super-idealist who digests philosophy more efficiently than food.”

“I intend to leave after my death a large fund for the promotion of the peace idea, but I am skeptical as to its results.”

“Home is where I work, and I work everywhere.”

“The first time I saw nitroglycerine was in the beginning of the Crimean War. Professor Zinin in St. Petersburg exhibited some to my father and me, and struck some on an anvil to show that only the part touched by the hammer exploded without spreading.”