Letter to Eduard Einstein · 5 February 1930
Life is like riding a bicycle
Einstein used the bicycle-and-balance comparison in a letter to his son Eduard. The familiar “life is like riding a bicycle” sentence is a polished English variant rather than the documented wording.
Popular wording
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
Documented wording
“Men are like bicycles. It’s only easy to keep your balance when you are on the move.”
Context
What the letter actually discusses
The catalog record places the comparison in a personal letter to Eduard Einstein. Einstein writes about keeping in motion while also mentioning his work with Walther Mayer and the slow progress of unified field theory.
Translation note
This is the English wording reproduced by the Christie’s catalog. The popular line changes “men” to “life” and smooths the comparison, so it should be identified as a variant rather than a literal quotation.
- Author
- Albert Einstein
- Document
- Letter to Eduard Einstein
- Recipient
- Eduard Einstein
- Place
- Not stated in the catalog
- Date
- 5 February 1930
Archival catalog record
Read the catalog record for Einstein’s letter to Eduard.
The external link opens the Christie’s archival description of Einstein’s signed letter dated 5 February 1930.