An enormous amount of modern ingenuity is expended on finding defences for the indefensible conduct of the powerful. As I have said above, these defences generally exhibit themselves most emphatically in the form of appeals to physical science. And of all the forms in which science, or pseudo-science, has come to the rescue of the rich and stupid, there is none so singular as the singular invention of the theory of races.

For Scotland has a double dose of the poison called heredity; the sense of blood in the aristocrat, the sense of doom in the Calvinist.

The word good has many meanings.

Most Americans ... have a sort of permanent intoxication from within, a sort of invisible champagne.

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.

If we could destroy custom at a blow and see the stars as a child sees them, we should need no other apocalypse.

The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world.