As WArden Lawes once said of convicts, no man can be called a failure until he has tried something he really likes, and fails at it.

Ignorance per se is not nearly as dangerous as ignorance of ignorance.

The difference between faith and superstition is that the first uses reason to go as far as it can, and then makes the jump; the second shuns reason entirely — which is why superstition is not the ally, but the enemy, of true religion.

Much as a teacher may wince at the thought, he is also an entertainer—for unless he can hold his audience, he cannot really instruct or edify them.

Skepticism is not an end in itself; it is a tool for the discovery of truths.

Take away grievances from some people and you remove their reasons for living; most of us are nourished by hope, but a considerable minority get psychic nutrition from their resentments, and would waste away purposelessly without them.

Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there.