No holiday is ever anything but a disappointment.

... one reads, above all, to prevent oneself thinking.

For what we think and feel and are is to a great extent determined by the state of our ductless glands and our viscera.

Defined in psychological terms, a fanatic is a man who consciously over-compensates a secret doubt.

Applied Science is a conjuror, whose bottomless hat yields impartially the softest of Angora rabbits and the most petrifying of Medusas.

Man has an almost infinite capacity for taking things and people for granted and thereby missing out on the pleasure of being grateful that things aren't worse and of praising and thereby lifting the spirits of others.

Asceticism, it is evident, has a double motivation. If men and women torment their bodies, it is not only because they hope in this way to atone for past sins and avoid future punishments; it is also because they long to visit the mind's antipodes and do some visionary sightseeing.