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Leó Szilárd was a Hungarian-German-American physicist who conceived the nuclear chain reaction, worked on the Manhattan Project and was a close friend of Albert Einstein. In 1940 he wrote down his own, personal, ten commandments in German. Neutral in tone, godless and very quirky, he never intended for anyone else to read them — until they found some traction among his fellow scientists and was eventually translated to English and published after his death.

1. Recognize the relationships between things and the laws which govern men’s actions, so that you know what you are doing.
2. Direct your deeds to a worthy goal, but do not ask if they will achieve the goal; let them be models and examples rather than means to an end.
3. Speak to all others as you do to yourself, without regard to the effect you make, so that you do not expel them from your world and in your isolation lose sight of the meaning of life and the perfection of the creation.
4. Do not destroy what you cannot create.
5. Touch no dish unless you are hungry. (A direct translation of an Hungarian pun that could read “Do not turn to the court of law unless you are hungry”).
6. Do not desire what you cannot have.
7. Do not lie without need.
8. Honor children. Listen to their words with reverence and speak to them with endless love.
9. Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not prevent you from being what you have become.
10. Lead your life with a gentle hand and be ready to depart whenever you are called.