My father was slower, but he was severer than my mother, who was quick but light and irregular in discipline.

My summary of all our experiences was that it showed that heaven and hell are one place, and we all go there. To those who are prepared, it is heaven; to those who are not fit and ready, it is hell.

The commercial spirit is the spirit of profit, not patriotism; of credit, not honor; of individual gain, not national prosperity; of trade and dickering, not principle.

We know that there is no absolute knowledge, that there are only theories; but we forget this. The better educated we are, the harder we believe in axioms.

My father required me to honor my father and my mother too much to put up games on them. I did on occasion.

It is our knowledge - the things we are sure of - that makes the world go wrong and keeps us from seeing and learning.

Boston has carried the practice of hypocrisy to the n-th degree of refinement, grace, and failure.