The great saint may be said to mix all his thoughts with thanks. All goods look better when they look like gifts.

If I think the universe is triangular, and you think it is square, there cannot be room for two universes. We may argue politely, we may argue humanely, we may argue with great mutual benefit: but, obviously, we must argue.

Men can construct a science with very few instruments, or with very plain instruments; but no one on earth could construct a science with unreliable instruments. A man might work out the whole of mathematics with a handful of pebbles, but not with a handful of clay which was always falling apart into new fragments, and falling together into new combinations. A man might measure heaven and earth with a reed, but not with a growing reed.

The full potentialities of human fury cannot be reached until a friend of both parties tactfully intervenes.

The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister.

A Catholic is a person who has plucked up courage to face the incredible and inconceivable idea that something else may be wiser than he is.

It is as healthy to enjoy sentiment as to enjoy jam.