An individual human existence should be like a river

Envy ... is one form of a vice, partly moral, partly intellectual, which consists in seeing things never in themselves but only in their relations.

The man who has fed the chicken every day throughout its life at last wrings its neck instead, showing that more refined views as to the uniformity of nature would have been useful to the chicken.

A man who has once perceived, however temporarily and however briefly, what makes greatness of soul, can no longer be happy if he allows himself to be petty, self-seeking, troubled by trivial misfortunes, dreading what fate may have in store for him. The man capable of greatness of soul will open wide the windows of his mind, letting the winds blow freely upon it from every portion of the universe.

The most essential characteristic of scientific technique is that it proceeds from experiment, not from tradition.

We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought.

In the ordinary business of life punctuality is . . . necessary.