It (the dash ) is a comfortable punctuation mark since even the most rigorous critic can seldom claim that any particular example of it is a misuse. Its overuse is its greatest danger, and the writer who can't resist dashes may be suspected of uncoordinated thinking.

We see what we want to see, and observation conforms to hypothesis.

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.

Most civilized lives are measured out with coffee spoons.

Speech is highly elliptical. It would scarcely be endurable otherwise. Ellipsis is indispensable to the writer or speaker who wants to be brief and pithy, but it can easily cause confusion and obscurity and must be used with skill.

The mere abhorrence of vice is not a virtue at all.

There is no necessary connection between the desire to lead and the ability to lead, and even less the ability to lead somewhere that will be to the advantage of the led.