Anyone who reads a book with a sense of obligation does not understand the art of reading.

I feel, like all modern Americans, no consciousness of sin and simply do not believe in it. All I know is that if God loves me only half as much as my mother does, he will not send me to Hell. That is a final fact of my inner consciousness, and for no religion could I deny its truth.

True peace of mind comes from accepting the worst. Psychologically, I think it means a release of energy.

By association with nature's enormities, a man's heart may truly grow big also.

It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action.

There is a great probability that our loss of capacity for enjoying the positive joys of life is largely due to the decreased sensibility of our senses and our lack of full use of them. All human happiness is sensuous happiness.

Of all the unhappy people in the world, the unhappiest are those who have not found something they want to do.