I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right.

I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation.

...behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable.

We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.

I want to know God's thoughts.

To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject.

The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working.