The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice.

I think periods of browsing during which no occupation is imposed from without are important in youth because they give time for the formation of these apparently fugitive but really vital impressions.

Real life is, to most men, a long second best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible.

I can only say that, while my own opinions as to ethics do not satisfy me, other people's satisfy me still less.

Machines deprive us of two things which are certainly important ingredients of human happiness, namely, spontaneity and variety.

To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind are prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not from all error, but from silly error.

We are told that Sin consists in acting contrary to God's commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. . . . This leads to frightful results. . . . The British State considers it the duty of an Englishman to kill people who are not English whenever a collection of elderly gentlemen in Westminster tells him to do so. . . . Church and State are placable enemies of both intelligence and virtue.