A man who has no mental needs, because his intellect is of the narrow and normal amount, is, in the strict sense of the word, what is called a philistine.

I know of no more beautiful prayer than that which the Hindus of old used in closing: May all that have life be delivered from suffering.

Newspapers are the second hand of history.

To expect a man to retain everything that he has ever read is like expecting him to carry about in his body everything that he has ever eaten.

Hope is the confusion of the desire for a thing with its probability.

Nothing shocks our moral feelings so deeply as cruelty does. We can forgive every other crime, but not cruelty. The reason for this is that it is the very opposite of compassion.

In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like children in a theatre before the curtain is raised, sitting there in high spirits and eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a blessing that we do not know what is really going to happen. Could we foresee it, there are times when children might seem like innocent prisoners, condemned, not to death, but to life, and as yet all unconscious of what their sentence means.