The things I feared were not in the sky, but in the nature and in the touch of humanity. The cruelty of children . . . the blindness of the unpitiful - these were my terrors. But not the crash of thunder overhead, not the bolts of fire from the clouds.

it is wiser to be conventionally immoral than unconventionally moral. It isn't the immorality they object to, but the originality.

To teach one's self is to be forced to learn twice.

Cruelty, I truly believe, is the one and only sin.

So long as the serpent continues to crawl on the ground, the primary influence of woman will be indirect.

There is no state of satisfaction, because to himself no man is a success.

No, one couldn't make a revolution, one couldn't even start a riot, with sheep that asked only for better browsing.