Einstein writes in response to a Mr. Walter Corty seeking clarification on the original version of Einstein's famous aphorism, which Einstein said while on a visit to Princeton in 1921. Corty had heard two different versions, "God is sophisticated, but not malicious", and "The Lord is subtle, but he is not simply mean". Einstein immediately pens his response directly onto Corty's letter, additionally crossing out the "sophisticated" in Corty's letter and replacing with "subtle", as well as the "simply" in "simply mean". Einstein's response in German in part:

"Gott macht es was schwer, aber bösartig ist er nicht." [God makes it somewhat difficult, but he is not malicious]. He continues "Mündliche Bemerkung, die in scherzhafter Form die Interpretation gewisser physikalischen Experimente anzweifelt.-A. Einstein" [Trans: Here’s an aside about that saying – In a funny way it questions the interpretation of certain physical experiments.]