Thought is the work of the intellect, reverie is its self-indulgence. To substitute day-dreaming for thought is to confuse a poison with a source of nourishment.

O youth! thou often tearest thy wings against the thorns of voluptuousness.

All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.

I refuse the oration of all churches. I ask a prayer of all souls. I believe in God.

Prayer is an august avowal of ignorance.

There are plenty who regard a wall behind which something is happening as a very curious thing.

I see black light (his last words)