Homo sapiens, the only creature endowed with reason, is also the only creature to pin its existence on things unreasonable.

Our laughter is always the laughter of a group.

I cannot escape the objection that there is no state of mind, however simple, that does not change every moment

It is the very essence of intelligence to coordinate means with a view to a remote end, and to undertake what it does not feel absolutely sure of carrying out.

Laughter is the corrective force which prevents us from becoming cranks.

For life is tendency, and the essence of a tendency is to develop in the form of a sheaf, creating, by its very growth, divergent directions among which its impetus is divided.

Men do not sufficiently realize that their future is in their own hands. Theirs is the task of determining first of all whether they want to go on living or not. Theirs is the responsibility, then, for deciding if they want merely to live, or intend to make just the extra effort required for fulfilling, even on this refractory planet, the essential function of the universe, which is a machine for the making of gods.