It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would not be a proof that religion is true. That would be an extension of pragmatism beyond endurance. Santa Claus makes children good in precisely the same way, and yet no one would argue seriously that the fact proves his existence. The defense of religion is full of such logical imbecilities.

In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell.

It is a peculiarity of the American mind that it regards any excursion into the truth as an adventure into cynicism.

A man of active and resilient mind outwears his friendships just as certainly as he outwears his love affairs, his politics and his epistemology.

Sunday is a day given over by Americans to wishing that the themselves were dead and in Heaven, and that their neighbors were dead and in Hell.

Poetry is a comforting piece of fiction set to more or less lascivious music.

A poet over 30 is pathetic