The priest, realistically considered, is the most immoral of men, for he is always willing to sacrifice every other sort of good to the one good of his arcanum - the vague body of mysteries that he calls the truth.

Hope: A pathological belief in the occurrence of the impossible.

I think the Negro people should feel secure enough by now to face a reasonable ridicule without terror. I am unalterably opposed to all efforts to put down free speech, whatever the excuse.

The first kiss is stolen by the man; the last is begged by the woman.

The American people, I am convinced, really detest free speech. At the slightest alarm they are ready and eager to put it down.

A bad artist almost always tries to conceal his incompetence by whooping up a new formula.

All great religions, in order to escape absurdity, have to admit a dilution of agnosticism. It is only the savage, whether of the African bush or the American gospel tent, who pretends to know the will and intent of God exactly and completely.