When men assimilate themselves to machines and value only the consequences of their work, not the work itself, style disappears, to be replaced by something which to the mechanised man appears more natural, though in fact is only more brutal.
A dog cannot relate his autobiography; however, eloquently he may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were honest though poor.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
What I do maintain is that success can only be one ingredient in happiness, and is too dearly purchased if all the other ingredients have been sacrificed to obtain it.
To discover a system for the avoidance of war is a vital need for our civ ilisation; but no such system has a chance while men are so unhappy that mutual extermination seems to them less dreadful than continued endurance of the light of day.
Logic was, formerly, the art of drawing inferences; it has now become the art of abstaining from inferences, since it has appeared that the inferences we feel naturally inclined to make are hardly ever valid.
I think every big town should contain artificial waterfalls that people could descend in very fragile canoes, and they should contain bathing pools full of mechanical sharks. Any person found advocating a preventive war should be condemned to two hours a day with these ingenious monsters.
Whatever can be thought of is an idea in the mind of the person thinking of it; therefore nothing can be thought of except ideas in minds; therefore anything else is inconceivable, and what is inconceivable cannot exist.
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people’s.
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
To understand the actual world as it is, not as we should wish it to be, is the beginning of wisdom.
I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
The satisfaction to be derived from success in a great constructive enterprise is one of the most massive that life has to offer.
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.
If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.
It is likely that America will be more important during the next century or two, but after that it may well be the turn of China.