Einstein is drawing a distinction that cuts against how we've organized modern life—we prize the accumulation of facts (which costs nothing but a WiFi connection) while understanding, which requires patience with ambiguity and the humility to sit with confusion, has become almost countercultural. A student might memorize that the heart pumps blood through arteries and veins, but understanding means grasping *why* the system evolved this way, what happens when it fails, and how that knowledge reshapes your sense of your own mortality. The quote matters because it suggests that in an age of infinite information, our real poverty is one of comprehension—we mistake having the answer for knowing what the answer means.