Of all studies, the one he would rather have avoided was that of his own mind. He knew no tragedy so heartrending as introspection.

The chief wonder of education is that it does not ruin everybody concerned in it, teachers and taught.

What a vast fraternity it is,--that of 'Hearts that Ache.' For the last three months it has seemed to me as though all society were coming to me, to drop its mask for a moment and initiate me into the mystery. How we do suffer! And we go on laughing; for, as a practical joke at our expense, life is a success.

[P]hilosophy . . .consists chiefly in suggesting unintelligible answers to insoluble problems.

The spectacle [of American politics] resembles that of swarms of insects changing from worms to wings. They must get the wings ordie. For our salvation, Mr. Wilbur Wright is providing wings. He will also have to provide a new insect to use them.

History is a tangled skein that one may take up at any point, and break when one has unravelled enough.

A friend in power is a friend lost.