There is something frightful in being required to enjoy and appreciate all masterpieces; to read with equal relish Milton, and Dante, and Calderon, and Goethe, and Homer, and Scott, and Voltaire, and Wordsworth, and Cervantes, and Molière, and Swift.

There is a vast deal of make-believe in the carefully nurtured sentiment for country life, and the barefoot boy, and the mountain girl.

It takes time and trouble to persuade ourselves that the things we want to do are the things we ought to do.

If we go to church we are confronted with a system of begging so complicated and so resolute that all other demands sink into insignificance by its side.

I do strive to think well of my fellow man, but no amount of striving can give me confidence in the wisdom of a congressional vote.

The clear-sighted do not rule the world, but they sustain and console it.

People who pin their faith to a catchword never feel the necessity of understanding anything.