No man who believes that all is for the best in this suffering world can keep his ethical values unimpaired, since he is always having to find excuses for pain and misery.

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.

An Honest politician will not be tolerated by a democracy unless he is very stupid ... because only a very stupid man can honestly share the prejudices of more than half the nation.

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.

We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one which we preach, but do not practice, and another which we practice, but seldom preach.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

Cruel men believe in a cruel god and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. Only kindly men believe in a kindly god, and they would be kindly in any case.

Just when you think you're in the cat-bird's seat, the Angel of Death calls "dibs" on shotgun.

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.

Don't go to a museum with a destination. Museums are wormholes to other worlds. They are ecstasy machines.

Any kid will run any errand for you, if you ask at bedtime.

I did not direct my life. I didn't design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That's what life is.

Golf is the only opportunity that middle-aged WASPs have to dress up like a pimp.

Some people seem to see compassion as being mushy.

Don't go for what you know you can get. Go for what you really want.

Losing my parents really set me adrift in more ways than one. It's not just losing them. It's losing the possibility of family.