Faith is like love: it does not let itself be forced.

Just as a stream flows smoothly on as long as it encounters no obstruction, so the nature of man and animal is such that we never really notice or become conscious of what is agreeable to our will; if we are to notice something, our will has to have been thwarted, has to have experienced a shock of some kind.

Life is a language in which certain truths are conveyed to us; if we could learn them in some other way, we should not live.

There are, first of all, two kinds of authors: those who write for the subject's sake, and those who write for writing's sake.

Mostly the loss teaches us only about the value of things.

Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts.

This is the case with many learned persons; they have read themselves stupid.