A good man will never suspect his friends of shady actions: this is part of his goodness. A good man will never be suspected by the public of using his goodness to screen villains: this is part of his utility.
In our complex world, there cannot be fruitful initiative without government, but unfortunately there can be government without initiative.
The dictum that human nature cannot be changed is one of those tiresome platitudes that conceal from the ignorant the depths of their own ignorance.
The human heart as modern civilization has made it is more prone to hatred than to friendship. And it is prone to hatred because it is dissatisfied.
Science is no substitute for virtue; the heart is as necessary for a good life as the head.
I think periods of browsing during which no occupation is imposed from without are important in youth because they give time for the formation of these apparently fugitive but really vital impressions.
If you question any candid person who is no longer young, he is very likely to tell you that, having tasted life in this world, he has no wish to begin again as a “new boy” in another.
Measures of sterilization should, in my opinion, be very definitely confined to persons who are mentally defective.
All that passes for knowledge can be arranged in a hierarchy of degrees of certainty, with arithmetic and the facts of perception at the top.
The frequency with which a man experiences lust depends upon his own physical condition, whereas the occasion which rouse such feelings in him depend upon the social conventions to which he is accustomed.
By self-interest, Man has become gregarious, but in instinct he has remained to a great extent solitary; hence the need of religion and morality to reinforce self-interest.
The atomic bomb embodies the results of a combination genius and patience as remarkable as any in the history of mankind.
Some ‘advanced thinkers’ are of the opinion that anyone who differs from the conventional opinion must be in the right. This is a delusion; if it were not, truth would be easier to come by than it is.
What vanity needs for its satisfaction is glory, and it’s easy to have glory without power.
Whenever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure.
All the important human advances that we know of since historical times began have been due to individuals of whom the majority faced virulent public opposition.
The free intellect is the chief engine of human progress.
I have throughout been curious about how much we can be said to know and with what degree of certainty or doubtfulness.
Mankind is divided into two classes: those who, being artificial, praise nature, and those who, being natural, praise art.
Heretical views arise when the truth is uncertain, and it is only when the truth is uncertain that censorship is invoked.