But a priest's life is not supposed to be well-rounded; it is supposed to be one-pointed - a compass, not a weathercock.

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.

We lie to ourselves in order that we may still have the excuse of ignorance, the alibi of stupidity and incomprehension, possessing which we can continue with a good conscience to commit and tolerate the most monstrous crimes.

The sum of evil, Pascal remarked, would be much diminished if men could only learn to sit quietly in their rooms.

Compared with that of Taoists and Far Eastern Buddhists, the Christian attitude toward Nature has been curiously insensitive and often downright domineering and violent. Taking their cue from an unfortunate remark in Genesis, Catholic moralists have regarded animals as mere things which men do right to regard for their own ends. . . .

In religion all words are dirty words. Anybody who gets eloquent about Buddha, or God, or Christ, ought to have his mouth washed out with carbolic soap.

In life, man proposes, God disposes.