Of all the evil spirits abroad at this hour in the world, insincerity is the most dangerous.

We must have the real thing before we can have a science of a thing.

What is called virtue in the common sense of the word has nothing to do with this or that man's prosperity, or even happiness.

A person possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with.

The essence of true nobility is neglect of self. Let the thought of self pass in, and the beauty of a great action is gone, like the bloom from a soiled flower.

That which especially distinguishes a high order of man from a low order of man, that which constitutes human goodness, human nobleness, is surely not the degree of enlightenment with which men pursue their own advantage; but it is self-forgetfulness; it is self-sacrifice; it is the disregard of personal pleasure, personal indulgence, personal advantage, remote or present, because some other line of conduct is more right.

Science rests on reason and experiment, and can meet an opponent with calmness; [but] a creed is always sensitive.