With an artist no sane man quarrels, any more than with the colour of a child's eyes.

It is pathetic to observe how lowly the motives are that religion, even the highest, attributes to the deity... To be given the best morsel, to be remembered, to be praised, to be obeyed blindly and punctiliously - these have been thought points of honor with the gods.

Uselessness is a fatal accusation to bring against any act which is done for its presumed utility, but those which are done for their own sake are their own justification.

Facts are all accidents. They all might have been different. They all may become different. They all may collapse altogether.

Language is like money, without which specific relative values may well exist and be felt, but cannot be reduced to a common denominator.

To be an American is of itself almost a moral condition, an education, and a career.

Knowledge is not eating, and we cannot expect to devour and possess what we mean. Knowledge is recognition of something absent; it is a salutation, not an embrace.