Nothing is stranger or more ticklish than a relationship between people who know each other only by sight, who meet and observe each other daily - no hourly - and are nevertheless compelled to keep up the pose of an indifferent stranger, neither greeting nor addressing each other, whether out of etiquette or their own whim.

Stupid — well, there are so many kinds of stupidity, and cleverness is one of the worst.

…What our age needs, what it demands, what it will create for itself, is—terror.

It is remarkable how a man cannot summarize his thoughts in even the most general sort of way without betraying himself completely, without putting his whole self into it, quite unawares, presenting as if in allegory the basic themes and problems of his life.

Is not life in itself a thing of goodness, irrespective of whether the course it takes for us can be called a 'happy' one?

Has the world ever been changed by anything save the thought and its magic vehicle the Word?

What a wonderful phenomenon it is, carefully considered, when the human eye, that jewel of organic structures, concentrates its moist brilliance on another human creature!