It is not hard work that is dreary; it is superficial work.

In every civilization, life grows easier. Men grow lazier in consequence. We have a picture of what happened to the individual Greek. (I cannot look at history, or at any human action, except as I look at the individual.) The Greeks had good food, good witty talk, pleasant dinner parties; and they were content. When the individual man had reached that condition in Athens, when the thought not of giving to the state but of what the state could give to him, Athens' freedom was doomed.

None so good that he has no faults, None so wicked that he is worth naught.

Theories that go counter to the facts of human nature are foredoomed.

The power of good is shown not by triumphantly conquering evil, but by continuing to resist evil while facing certain defeat.

The suffering of a soul that can suffer greatly -- that and only that, is tragedy.

The temper of mind that sees tragedy in life has not for its opposite the temper that sees joy. The opposite pole to the tragic view of life is the sordid view.