...the majority of people cannot endure the bareness and futility of their lives unless they have some ardent dedication, or some passionate pursuit in which they can lose themselves.

Man staggers through life yapped at by his reason, pulled and shoved by his appetites, whispered to by fears, beckoned by hopes. Small wonder that what he craves most is self-forgetting.

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny.

A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed.

The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle.

Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.

It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living.