In matters of truth the fact that you don't want to publish something is, nine times out of ten, a proof that you ought to publish it.

Religious unity can look like a carnival and religious liberty can look like a funeral.

Such professions as the soldier and the lawyer ... give ample opportunity for crimes but not much for mere illusions. ... If you have lost a battle you cannot believe you have won it; if your client is hanged you cannot pretend that you have gotten him off.

We have not made cricket and football [soccer] professional because of any astonishing avarice or new vulgarity. We have made them professional because we would have them perfect. We have dedicated men to them as to some god of inhuman excellence. We care more for football than for the fun of playing football.

He had found the thing which the modern people call Impressionism, which is another name for that final scepticism which can find no floor to the universe.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

The highest and noblest thing that history can be is a good story.