The materialistic idealism that governs American life, that on the one hand makes a chariot of every grocery wagon, and on the other a mere hitching post of every star, lets every man lead a very enticing double life.

One of the misfortunes of our time is that in getting rid of false shame, we have killed off so much real shame as well.

The test of interesting people is that subject matter doesn't matter.

Nominally a great age of scientific inquiry, ours has become an age of superstition about the infallibility of science; of almost mystical faith in its non-mystical methods; above all-which perhaps most explains the expert's sovereignty-of external verities; of traffic-cop morality and rabbit-test truth.

The trouble with our age is that it is all signpost and no destination.

If it is the great delusion of moralists to suppose that all previous ages were less sinful than their own, then it is the great delusion of intellectuals to suppose that all previous ages were less sick.

The moving van is a symbol of more than our restlessness, it is the most conclusive evidence possible of our progress.