I cannot help reflecting that if my father had been American and my mother British instead of the other way around, I might have gotten here on my own.

God for a month of power & a good shorthand writer.

Let us reconcile ourselves to the mysterious rhythm of our destinies, such as they must be in this world of space and time.

Never abandon life. There is a way out of everything except death.

The tired parts of the mind can be rested and strengthened not merely by rest, but by using other parts.

If you cannot read all your books...fondle them---peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them, at any rate, be your acquaintances.

It is not given to princes, statesmen and captains to pierce the mysteries of the future, and even the most penetrating gaze reaches only conclusions which, however seemingly vindicated at a given moment, are inexorably effaced by time.