Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.

...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.

The superficiality of many is a result of deep fears. It takes spare time to think things out; it takes free time to mature. People in a hurry may not think well or mature well. The next best is a state of perpetual puerility.

To grow old is to grow common. Old age equalizes -- we are aware that what is happening to us has happened to untold numbers from the beginning of time. When we are young we act as if we were the first young people in the world.

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.

In a modern society people can live without hope only when kept dazed and out of breath by incessant hustling.