As we gain knowledge, we do not become more certain, we become certain of more.

I write - and read - for the sake of the story... My basic test for any story is: 'Would I want to meet these characters and observe these events in real life? Is this story an experience worth living through for its own sake? Is the pleasure of contemplating these characters an end itself?

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

Let no man posture as an advocate of peace if he proposes or supports any social system that initiates the use of force against individual men, in any form.

I don't wish to be the symbol of anything. I'm only myself.

It's so graceless, being a martyr. It's honoring your adversaries too much.

Definitions are the guardians of rationality, the first line of defense against the chaos of mental disintegration.