Religions are the great fairy tales of conscience.

Catastrophes come when some dominant institution, swollen like a soap-bubble and still standing without foundations, suddenly crumbles at the touch of what may seem a word or idea, but is really some stronger material source.

Lovely promise and quick ruin are seen nowhere better than in Gothic architecture.

It is possible to be a master in false philosophy, easier, in fact, than to be a master in the truth, because a false philosophy can be made as simple and consistent as one pleases.

Matters of religion should never be matters of controversy. We neither argue with a lover about his taste, nor condemn him, if we are just, for knowing so human a passion.

The passions grafted on wounded pride are the most inveterate; they are green and vigorous in old age.

An ideal cannot wait for its realization to prove its validity.