My temperament is not inclined toward more self-promotion than is absolutely necessary for my professional well-being.

Utopias are boring. Distopias on the other hand, are interesting.

There are true unseen forces, but not nearly so many as we believe, nor would they rule us so sternly if we did not admit them to our souls. We would not be assailed half so often by devils, had we not taken the trouble to invent so many of them.

One defining symptom of decadence is a fondness for vast and nonsensical extravagance.

Aristocrats might shrug, but commoners, dreading any collapse of the social order, wanted the rules of behavior to be observed.

Having lost our present and our future, we had of necessity to bend all our endeavors to the past, which no one could take from us if only we were vigilant enough.

I find the world and all it contains extremely fascinating. Is this sinful?