The tendency of the casual mind is to pick out or stumble upon a sample which supports or defies its prejudices, and then to make it the representative of a whole class.

A man cannot sleep in his cradle: whatever is useful must in the nature of life become useless.

A rational man acting in the real world may be defined as one who decides where he will strike a balance between what he desires and what can be done.

The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief... that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.

A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society. ... A great society is simply a big and complicated urban society.

Robinson Crusoe, the self-sufficient man, could not have lived in New York city.

To understand is not only to pardon, but in the end to love.