08/17/2026
One of Einstein's students asked him, "What does logic mean?"
Einstein replied:
"I'll answer you with a question. Suppose two workers go down a chimney to clean it. One comes out with a dirty face and the other with a clean face. Who will go and wash their face?"
The student replied immediately and without hesitation: "Of course, the one with the dirty face."
Einstein replied: "Your answer is incorrect. The one who washes their face is the one who has a clean face, because they have looked at their colleague's face and assumed theirs was also dirty. The one who has a dirty face does not wash their face, thinking it is clean like their colleague's."
The student said: "That's true and logical."
Einstein replied:
"No, that's not true because the question itself is illogical. It's not logical that two men would enter the same chimney at the same time and one would come out clean and the other dirty."
Sometimes the problem is not the answer, but the imperfect question itself.