Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire.

The process of living seems to consist in coming to realize truths so ancient and simple that, if stated, they sound like barren platitudes.

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistake of our own period. And that means the old books.

When things go wrong, you'll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right they often go on getting better and better.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

The point is that for our ancestors, the universe was a picture; for modern physics it is a story.

A concentrated mind and a sitting body make for better prayer than a kneeling body and a mind half asleep.