Atheism is too theological.

THERE are no wise few; for in all men rages the folly of the Fall. Take your strongest, happiest, handsomest, best born, best bred, best instructed men on earth and give them special power for half an hour and because they are men they will begin to [perform] badly.

Every one of the great revolutionists, from Isaiah to Shelley, have been optimists. They have been indignant, not about the badness of existence, but about the slowness of men in realizing its goodness.

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.

I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a story-teller

The real argument against aristocracy is that it always means the rule of the ignorant. For the most dangerous of all forms of ignorance is ignorance of work.

No man can break any of the Ten Commandments. He can only break himself against them.