Disputing the commonsense notion that all events require the prior existence of some underlying matter or substance. There is no antecedent static cabinet.

In England if something goes wrong--say, if one finds a skunk in the garden--he writes to the family solicitor, who proceeds to take the proper measures; whereas in America, you telephone the fire department. Each satisfies a characteristic need; in the English, love of order and legalistic procedure; and here in America, what you like is something vivid, and red, and swift.

Religion is the last refuge of human savagery.

The factor in human life provocative of a noble discontent is the gradual emergence of a sense of criticism, founded upon appreciation of beauty, and of intellectual distinction, and of duty.

The great achievements of the past were the adventures of the past. Only the adventurous can understand the greatness of the past.

Problems are only opportunities in disquise.

You cannot evade quantity. You may fly to poetry and music, and quantity and number will face you in your rhythms and your octaves.