The muffled syllables that Nature speaks Fill us with deeper longing for her word; She hides a meaning that the spirit seeks, She makes a sweeter music than is heard.

The Fates, like an absent-minded printer, seldom allow a single line to stand perfect and unmarred.

I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world.

The fact of having been born is a bad augury for immortality.

My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.

Does the thoughtful man suppose that...the present experiment in civilization is the last world we will see?

Spirituality lies in regarding existence merely as a vehicle for contemplation, and contemplation merely a vehicle for joy.