Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed.

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.

How many things there are concerning which we might well deliberate whether we had better know them.

I don’t go around thinking I’m Ray Bradbury all the time.

I don’t think there is any philosophy that suggests having polio is a good thing.

We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are – that is the fact.

I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding.

If all my bridge coach ever told me was that I was ‚satisfactory,‘ I would have no hope of ever getting better. How would I know who was the best? How would I know what I was doing differently?

Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.

No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods.

We’re all sinners. Everybody you meet all over the world is a sinner.

There are no facts, only interpretations.

In wildness is the preservation of the world.

For greed all nature is too little.

The human animal originally came from out-of-doors. When spring begins to move in his bones, he just must get out again. Moreover, as civilization, cement pavements, office buildings, radios have overwhelmed us, the need for regeneration has increased, and the impulses are even stronger.

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

They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice… that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.

I define nothing. Not beauty, not patriotism. I take each thing as it is, without prior rules about what it should be.

What we need is a system of thought – you might even call it a religion – that can bind humans together. A system that would fit the Republic of Chad as well as the United States: a system that would supply our idealistic young people with something to believe in.

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.

To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th‘ observer’s sake.

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

I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling.

Nature is not human hearted.

Ordinary morality is innate in my view.

Probably because I’m from a middle class family, I have that nature in me that I don’t get too excited with big things.

The longer I live, the more I feel that true repose consists in ‚renouncing‘ one’s own self, by which I mean making up one’s mind to admit that there is no importance whatever in being ‚happy‘ or ‚unhappy‘ in the usual meaning of the words.

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

If particulars are to have meaning, there must be universals.

I’ve always felt that if I examine myself too much, I’ll find out what I know and don’t know, and I’ll burst the bubble. I’ve gotten so lucky relying on my animal instincts, I’d rather keep a little bit of the animal alive.

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

Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated.

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

He that is giddy thinks the world turns round.

My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.

It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.

There’s not a note of mine that’s worth the noting.

Water is the driving force of all nature.

No person is important enough to make me angry.

I’ve always been really, really aware of my insecurities – really, really aware. I never developed that thick skin that keeps you from letting things get to you.

There are phases in life which surface at times, and it makes you understand that despite you working hard, everything what you are doing is probably not enough. That’s when you need to look around, and beyond.

Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.

Most of one’s life is one prolonged effort to prevent oneself thinking.

It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

Although I’m only fourteen, I know quite well what I want. I know who is right and who is wrong. I have my opinions, my own ideas and principles, and although it may sound pretty mad from an adolescent, I feel more of a person than a child. I feel quite independent of anyone.

Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God.

The human heart is the same the world over.

Is life worth living? It all depends on the liver.

There is no such thing as Something for nothing.

Man is by nature a political animal.

The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation.

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.

History isn’t just the story of bad people doing bad things. It’s quite as much a story of people trying to do good things. But somehow, something goes wrong.

There is such a thing as old emotional pain living inside you. It is an accumulation of painful life experience that was not fully faced and accepted in the moment it arose. It leaves behind an energy form of emotional pain.

My lectures, based on Islamic teachings, were on various subjects. Some of the titles were, ‚The Intoxication of Life,‘ ‚The Purpose of Life,‘ ‚The Real Cause of Man’s Distress,‘ ‚The Journey to the Goal in Life,‘ and, one of my favorites, ‚The Heart of Man.‘ They contained important insights that spoke to something deep inside me.

In order to exist just once in the world, it is necessary never again to exist.

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

I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.

The Canteen Boy, the reason you feel bad for him and you can laugh is because he, and I guess a lot of my characters, they don’t notice they’re getting made fun of. So they’ll say something back that’s not that great a quip, but in their mind they won the argument.

No one but a fool is always right.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.