The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of some vice.
Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks.
All men thirst to confess their crimes more than tired beasts thirst for water; but they naturally object to confessing them while other people, who have also committed the same crimes, sit by and laugh at them.
Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice.
I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.
To the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sun is really a sun; to the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sea is really a sea.
The voice of the special rebels and prophets, recommending discontent, should, as I have said, sound now and then suddenly, like a trumpet. But the voices of the saints and sages, recommending contentment, should sound unceasingly, like the sea.
All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the darker secret of why he is alive.
If we want to give poor people soap we must set out deliberately to give them luxuries. If we will not make them rich enough to be clean, then empathically we must do what we did with the saints. We must reverence them for being dirty.
The world will very soon be divided, unless I am mistaken, into those who still go on explaining our success, and those somewhat more intelligent who are trying to explain our failure.
What we call emancipation is always and of necessity simply the free choice of the soul between one set of limitations and another.
There are some desires that are not desirable.
Modern broad-mindedness benefits the rich; and benefits nobody else.
It is the main earthly business of a human being to make his home, and the immediate surroundings of his home, as symbolic and significant to his own imagination as he can.
Big Business and State Socialism are very much alike, especially Big Business.
A citizen can hardly distinguish between a tax and a fine, except that the fine is generally much lighter.
Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists.
Price is a crazy and incalculable thing, while Value is an intrinsic and indestructible thing.
Business, especially big business, is now organized like an army. It is, as some would say, a sort of mild militarism without bloodshed; as I say, a militarism without the military virtues.
All but the hard hearted man must be torn with pity for this pathetic dilemma of the rich man, who has to keep the poor man just stout enough to do the work and just thin enough to have to do it.