When a man acts in ways that annoy us we wish to think him wicked, and we refuse to face the fact that his annoying behavior is the result of antecedent causes which, if you follow them long enough, will take you beyond the moment of his birth, and therefore to events for which he cannot be held responsible by any stretch of imagination... When a motorcar fails to start, we do not attribute its annoying behavior to sin, we do not say, you are a wicked motorcar, and you shall not have any more gasoline until you go.

To write tragedy, a man must feel tragedy. To feel tragedy, a man must be aware of the world in which he lives. Not only with his mind, but with his blood and sinews.

A generation educated in fearless freedom will have wider and bolder hopes than are possible to us

All knowledge, we feel, must be built up upon our instinctive beliefs; and if these are rejected, nothing is left.

To save the world requires faith and courage: faith in reason, and courage to proclaim what reason shows to be true.

The average man's opinions are much less foolish than they would be if he thought for himself.

Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy.