“ I was originally supposed to become an engineer but the thought of having to expend my creative energy on things that make practical everyday life even more refined, with a loathsome capital gain as the goal, was unbearable to me. ” — Albert Einstein, conversation with Heinrich Zangger (1918)

Source

Albert Einstein to Heinrich Zangger, ca. August 1918. CPAE, Vol. 8, Doc. 597
As quoted in Albert Einstein; Alice Calaprice; Freeman Dyson (14 July 2011). The Ultimate Quotable Einstein. Princeton University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-691-13817-6. Retrieved 30 December 2011.