For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.

Knowing that you are going to die is, I suspect, the beginning of wisdom.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

He that will believe only what he can fully comprehend must have a long head or a very short creed.

We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.

God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.

The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.

Mathematics takes us into the region of absolute necessity, to which not only the actual word, but every possible word, must conform.

And yet it moves.

The foolish man conceives the idea of ‚self.‘ The wise man sees there is no ground on which to build the idea of ‚self;‘ thus, he has a right conception of the world and well concludes that all compounds amassed by sorrow will be dissolved again, but the truth will remain.

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.

Extremes in nature equal ends produce; In man they join to some mysterious use.

The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions.

All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being.

The world is seldom what it seems; to man, who dimly sees, realities appear as dreams, and dreams realities.

We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods.

The generous Critic fann’d the Poet’s fire, And taught the world with reason to admire.

For the world to be interesting, you have to be manipulating it all the time.

What do I care about the purring of one who cannot love, like the cat?

Nothing in life is promised except death.

The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.

Every fact is related on one side to sensation, and, on the other, to morals. The game of thought is, on the appearance of one of these two sides, to find the other: given the upper, to find the under side.

A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.

The eye of a human being is a microscope, which makes the world seem bigger than it really is.

There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.

Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.

Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.

One of the best ways to see tree flowers is to climb one of the tallest trees and to get into close, tingling touch with them, and then look broad.

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.

During my first years in the Sierra, I was ever calling on everybody within reach to admire them, but I found no one half warm enough until Emerson came. I had read his essays, and felt sure that of all men he would best interpret the sayings of these noble mountains and trees. Nor was my faith weakened when I met him in Yosemite.

Fanatics are picturesque, mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons.

When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.

In this business you have to develop a thick skin, but I’m always going to feel everything. It’s my nature.

An unexciting truth may be eclipsed by a thrilling lie.

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.

I think the American people, with some justification, think that most politicians live in la-la land.

My purpose is to help people look at themselves and begin to shift their concepts. Remember, we are not our country, our race, or religion. We are eternal spirits. Seeing ourselves as spiritual beings without label is a way to transform the world and reach a sacred place for all of humanity.

Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.

Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath.

This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again.

It’s very difficult for the American people to believe that our government, one of the richest on Earth, is also one of the stingiest on Earth.

The finest works of art are precious, among other reasons, because they make it possible for us to know, if only imperfectly and for a little while, what it actually feels like to think subtly and feel nobly.

Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

With the development of industrial capitalism, a new and unanticipated system of injustice, it is libertarian socialism that has preserved and extended the radical humanist message of the Enlightenment and the classical liberal ideals that were perverted into an ideology to sustain the emerging social order.

People often think I’m a faker, but I’m usually honest, in a certain way – in such a way that often nobody believes me!

The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it’s dead for you.

The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

Atheism shows strength of mind, but only to a certain degree.

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.

Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows.

Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom.

Nature teaches us that tens of billions of light years may have passed, and life in all of its expressions has always been subjected to an incredible combination of matter and radiation.

In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.

The land created me. I’m wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I’m more at home in the vacant lots.

It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory.