If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottage princes‘ palaces.

Every man’s memory is his private literature.

Both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom: the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come.

Truth is what works.

When it’s your time, it is your time.

Great indebtedness does not make men grateful, but vengeful; and if a little charity is not forgotten, it turns into a gnawing worm.

An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.

I have always believed in evolving a consensus before taking any major decision.

I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome.

Religion is the opium of the masses.

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.

What we call Man’s power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.

Fools admire, but men of sense approve.

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

A man lives by believing something: not by debating and arguing about many things.

One reason I don’t want to play in England again is because we don’t have any personalities.

I still think like a Marxist in many ways.

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.

We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.

The way of the Creative works through change and transformation, so that each thing receives its true nature and destiny and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony: this is what furthers and what perseveres.

That’s what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure one fool tells him he’s wise.

Poetry and lyrics are very similar. Making words bounce off a page.

The art is long, life is short.

I read poetry to save time.

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.

If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

Which death is preferably to every other? ‚The unexpected‘.

Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution.

To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it.

Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from truth.

When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.

You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.

There is the good and the bad, the great and the low, the just and the unjust. I swear to you that all that will never change.

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

To do a great right do a little wrong.

In the affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?

I don’t want to spend money the club doesn’t have; I don’t want to hold a player that doesn’t want to stay.

Heaven is long-enduring, and earth continues long. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves.

The problem with car dealerships is you’ve already decided what you want to buy before you even go there, and you’re really just going there to talk through some annoying negotiation.

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.

Whoever blushes is already guilty; true innocence is ashamed of nothing.

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.

Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.

A man can take a little bourbon without getting drunk, but if you hold his mouth open and pour in a quart, he’s going to get sick on it.

Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‚people.‘ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war… Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.

Wisdom is found only in truth.

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.

Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.

I always tell people that if I move anywhere it would be Toronto.

It’s really easy to have a nice philosophy about openness, but moving the world in that direction is a different thing. It requires both understanding where you want to go and being pragmatic about getting there.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.

I’ve read a lot of really great characters in some really crappy stories, where I said, like, ‚Boy I could shine here, but the story sucks.‘ I don’t want to be part of that.