A man should have any number of little aims about which he should be conscious and for which he should have names, but he should have neither name for, nor consciousness concerning the main aim of his life.

There should be asylums for habitual teetotalers, but they would probably relapse into teetotalism as soon as they got out.

A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.

Prayers are to men as dolls are to children. They are not without use and comfort, but it is not easy to take them very seriously.

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

They say the test of [literary power] is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, "Can he name a kitten?" And by this test I am condemned, for I cannot.

Our own death is a premium which we must pay for the far greater benefit we have derived from the fact that so many people have not only lived but also died before us.