The truest test of independent judgment is being able to dislike someone who admires us, and to admire someone who dislikes us.

Elitism is the slur directed at merit by mediocrity.

American parents, on the whole, do not want their sons to be artisans or craftsmen, but business or professional people. As a result, millions of youngsters are being prepared for careers they have little aptitude for - and little interest in except for dubious prestige.

It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, 'the greatest', but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.

Good teaching must be slow enough so that it is not confusing, and fast enough so that it is not boring.

Those who imagine that the world is against them have generally conspired to make it true.

Life is, if anything, the art of combination. Of discrimination. Of freely picking one's own personal pattern out of a hundred choices. Not letting it be picked for you—either by the Establishment, or by the Rebels. Conformity of Hip is no better than Conformity of Square.