The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.

The truth is that there are no things for which men will make such herculean efforts as the things of which they know they are unworthy.

...there is in life an element of elfin coincidence which people reckoning on the prosaic may perpetually miss. As it has been well expressed in the paradox of Poe, wisdom should reason on the unforeseen.

Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem".

Man seems to be capable of great virtues but not of small virtues; capable of defying his torturer but not of keeping his temper.

Ritual will always mean throwing away something: destroying our corn or wine upon the altar of our gods.

Boyhood is a most complex and incomprehensible thing. Even when one has been through it, one does not understand what it was. A man can never quite understand a boy, even when he has been the boy.