The pursuit of knowledge is, I think, mainly actuated by love of power. And so are all advances in scientific technique.

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.

I had been seasoned by adversity, and tutored by experience, and I longed to redeem my lost honour in the eyes of those whose opinion was more than that of all the world to me.

The price of success must be paid in full, in advance.

They, all of them, seemed to put literary form in front of the actuality and living of life itself.

I've found a formula for avoiding these exaggerated fears of age; you take care of every day - let the calendar take care of the years.

Life is consciousness.

We all make mistakes, but we need to learn from them and move on. You can own a mistake, or the mistake will own you.

Any model we make does not describe the universe it describes what our brains are capable of saying at this time.

The trance of unworthiness keeps the sweetness of belonging out of reach. The path to "the sweetness of belonging," is acceptance - acceptance of ourselves and acceptance of others without judgment.

Poetry is one of the few nasty childhood habits I've managed to grow out of

The country has gone sane and got back to horses.