If we are bound to improve, we need not trouble to improve. The pure doctrine of progress is the best of all reasons for not being a progressive.

We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.

somehow one must love the world without being worldly.

[A pacifist is] the last and least excusable on the list of the enemies of society.

I have myself a poetical enthusiasm for pigs, and the paradise of my fancy is one where pigs have wings. But it is only men, especially wise men, who discuss whether pigs can fly; we have no particular proof that pigs ever discuss it.

Americans are a very backward people, with all the real virtues of a backward people; the patriarchal simplicity and human dignity of a democracy, and a respect for labor uncorrupted by cynicism.

Customs are generally unselfish. Habits are nearly always selfish.