Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man must develop himself; if he has them forced down him, he will vomit them out.

Once a man gets a reputation as a liar, he might as well be struck dumb, for people do not listen to the wind.

Customs tell a man who he is, where he belongs, what he must do. Better illogical customs than none; men cannot live together without them.

The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.

'Savage' describes a cultural condition, not a degree of intelligence.

Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried.

The 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with those three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.