The world is so full of simpletons and madmen, that one need not seek them in a madhouse.

Too many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously, to make it easy for them.

When I consider the narrow limits within which our active and inquiring faculties are confined; when I see how all our energies are wasted in providing for mere necessities, which again have no further end than to prolong a wretched existence; and then that all our satisfaction concerning certain subjects of investigation ends in nothing better than a passive resignation... when I consider all this... I am silent.

Even the lowliest, provided he is whole, can be happy, and in his own . way, perfect.

Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.

To have a positive religion is not necessary. To be in harmony with yourself and the universe is what counts, and this is possible without positive and specific formulation in words.

America, you have it better than our continent, the old one.