The only way to success in American public life lies in flattering and kowtowing to the mob

Taxation, for example, is eternally lively; it concerns nine-tenths of us more directly than either smallpox or golf, and has just as much drama in it; moreover, it has been mellowed and made gay by as many gaudy, preposterous theories

Some boys go to college and eventually succeed in getting out. Others go to college and never succeed in getting out. The latter are called professors.

War may make a fool of man, but it by no means degrades him; on the contrary, it tends to exalt him, and its net effects are much like those of motherhood on women.

The time must come inevitably when mankind shall surmount the imbecility of religion, as it has surmounted the imbecility of religion's ally, magic. It is impossible to imagine this world being really civilized so long as so much nonsense survives. In even its highest forms religion embraces concepts that run counter to all common sense. It can be defended only by making assumptions and adopting rules of logic that are never heard of in any other field of human thinking.

He slept more than any other president, whether by day or by night. Nero fiddled, but Coolidge only snored.

The intellectual heritage of the race belongs to the minority.