The average woman is at the head of something with which she can do as she likes; the average man has to obey orders and do nothing else.

The fact is that purification and austerity are even more necessary for the appreciation of life and laughter than for anything else. To let no bird fly past unnoticed, to spell the stones and weeds, to have the mind a storehouse of sunset, requires a discipline in pleasure and an education in gratitude.

Tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything.

All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.

If you know what a man's doing, get in front of him; but if you want to guess what he's doing keep behind him.

Misers get up early in the morning; and burglars, I am informed, get up the night before.

If you happen to read fairy tales, you will observe that one idea runs from one end of them to the other--the idea that peace and happiness can only exist on some condition. This idea, which is the core of ethics, is the core of the nursery-tales.