The perils, rewards, punishments, and fulfillments of an adventure must be real, or the adventure is only a shifting and heartless nightmare. If I bet I must be made to pay, or there is no poetry in betting. If I challenge I must be made to fight, or there is no poetry in challenging. If I vow to be faithful I must be cursed when I am unfaithful, or there is no fun vowing.

It is still bad taste to be an avowed atheist. But now it is equally bad taste to be an avowed Christian.

Paradox - Truth standing on her head to get attention.

When people impute special vices to the Christian Church, they seem entirely to forget that the world (which is the only other thing there is) has these vices much more. The Church has been cruel; but the world has been much more cruel. The Church has plotted; but the world has plotted much more. The Church has been superstitious; but it has never been so superstitious as the world is when left to itself.

You can't have the family farm without the family.

Do not look at the faces in the illustrated papers. Look at the faces in the street.

But I was frightfully fond of the universe and wanted to address it by a diminutive. I often did so; and it never seemed to mind.