Life at its noblest leaves mere happiness far behind; and indeed cannot endure it. Happiness is not the object of life: life has no object: it is an end in itself; and courage consists in the readiness to sacrifice happiness for an intenser quality of life.

First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity.

The universal regard for money is the one hopeful fact in our civilization. Money is the most important thing in the world. It represents health, strength, honor, generosity and beauty . . . . Not the least of its virtues is that it destroys basic people as certainly as it fortifies and dignifies noble people.

Vegetarians claim to be immune from most diseases but they have been known to die from time to time.

Medical science is as yet very imperfectly differentiated from common cure-mongering witchcraft

The capacity of any conqueror is more likely than not to be an illusion produced by the incapacity of his adversary.

New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.