why shouldnt things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? they are so, and we are so, and they and we go together.

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Each religion necessarily contradicts every other religion, and probably contradicts itself. Religions, like languages, are necessary rivals. What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak.

Nothing is so irrevocable as mind.

It is rash to intrude upon the piety of others: both the depth and the grace of it elude the stranger.

The best men in all ages keep classic traditions alive

Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself.