We can be almost certain of being wrong about the future, if we are wrong about the past.

The last few decades have been marked by a special cultivation of the romance of the future. We seem to have made up our minds to misunderstand what has happened; and we turn, with a sort of relief, to stating what will happen-which is apparently much easier...The modern mind is forced towards the future by a certain sense of fatigue, not unmixed with terror, with which it regards the past.

For us who live in cities Nature is not natural. Nature is supernatural. Just as monks watched and strove to get a glimpse of heaven, so we watch and strive to get a glimpse of earth. It is as if men had cake and wine every day but were sometimes allowed common bread.

...the primary paradox that man is superior to all the things around him and yet is at their mercy.

Every time a man knocks on a brothel door, he is really knocking for God

The only way to be sure of catching a train is to miss the one before it.

Happiness is not only a hope, but also in some strange manner a memory ... we are all kings in exile.