True happiness for human beings is possible only to those who develop their godlike potentialities to the utmost.

But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back - fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be.

The taboo against nakedness is an obstacle to a decent attitude on the subject of sex.

The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists - that is why they invented hell.

Our beliefs are, however, often contrary to fact.

Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them.

A million million years gives us some time to prepare for the end . . . let us make the best of it.