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.

The State did not own men so entirely, even when it could send them to the stake, as it sometimes does now where it can send them to the elementary school.

A dead thing goes with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.

There is only one thing that it requires real courage to say, and that is a truism.

Mysticism keeps mankind sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity.

I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid.

There is no better test of a man's ultimate chivalry and integrity than how he behaves when he is wrong... A stiff apology is a second insult.