The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.

If a country can't save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say : Let the damned thing go down the drain!

Secrecy begets tyranny.

Belief gets in the way of learning.

I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much . . . because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting.

But if you didn't have more urgent things to do after supper [in boot camp], you could write a letter, loaf, gossip, discuss the myriad mental shortcomings of sergeants and, dearest of all, talk about the female of the species (we became convinced that there was no such creatures, just mythology created by inflamed imaginations - one boy in our company claimed to have seen a girl, over at regimental headquarters; he was unanimously judged a liar and a braggart).