Nonintervention does not mean that nothing happens. It means that something else happens.

Hero­ism breaks its heart, and ide­al­ism its back, on the intran­si­gence of the cred­u­lous and the mediocre, manip­u­lated by the cyn­i­cal and the corrupt.

Your favorite virtue? An appreciation for irony.

If you want to stay in for the long haul, and lead a life that is free from illusions either propagated by you or embraced by you, then I suggest you learn to recognize and avoid the symptoms of the zealot and the person who knows he is right. For the dissenter, the skeptical mentality is at least as important as any armor of principle.

The people who must never have power are the humorless. To impossible certainties of rectitude they ally tedium and uniformity

The atheist proposition is the following - most of the time - it may not be said that there is no god; it may be said that there is no reason to think that there is one.

To what faults do you feel most indulgent? To the ones that arise from urgent material needs.