The difficulty of explaining ‘why I am a Catholic’ is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true.

One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

Gratitude, being nearly the greatest of human duties, is also nearly the most difficult.

The modern world has far too little understanding of the art of keeping young. Its notion of progress has been to pile one thing on top of another, without caring if each thing was crushed in turn. People forgot that the human soul can enjoy a thing most when there is time to think about it and be thankful for it. And by crowding things together they lost the sense of surprise; and surprise is the secret of joy.

The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.

Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad, but chess players do.