Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him.

An obstinate man does not hold opinions, but they hold him; for when he is once possessed with an error, it is, like a devil, only cast out with great difficulty.

There is one class of mind that loves to lean on rules and definitions, and another that discards them as far as possible. A faddist will generally ask for a definition of faddism, and one who is not a faddist will be impatient of being asked to give one.

Man, unlike the animals, has never learned that the sole purpose of life is to enjoy it.

Cat-Ideas and Mouse-Ideas. We can never get rid of mouse-ideas completely, they keep turning up again and again, and nibble, nibble-no matter how often we drive them off. The best way to keep them down is to have a few good strong cat-ideas which will embrace them and ensure their not reappearing till they do so in another shape.

We all love best not those who offend us least, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.

There is no such source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth.