Drunkeness is temporary suicide: the happiness that it brings is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhappiness.

The man who only loves beautiful things is dreaming, whereas the man who knows absolute beauty is wide awake.

[There are m]oral precepts that we consider really important, such as 'don't pick your nose' or 'don't eat peas with a knife'. There may, for ought I know, be admirable reasons for eating peas with a knife, but . . . early persuasion has made me completely incapable of appreciating them.

What men really want is not knowledge but certainty.

We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one which we preach, but do not practice, and another which we practice, but seldom preach.

All that passes for knowledge can be arranged in a hierarchy of degrees of certainty, with arithmetic and the facts of perception at the top.

To a modern mind, it is difficult to feel enthusiastic about a virtuous life if nothing is going to be achieved by it.