The scent of frying astronomers long ago ceased to ascend to Yahweh.

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.

Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.

Progress is like wheels that never stop

The observer of the soul cannot penetrate into the soul, but there doubtless is a margin where he comes into contact with it.

From all that dims Thy Calvary, O Lamb of God, deliver me.

To accumulate wealth, power or land beyond one's needs in a limited world is to be truly immoral, be it as an individual, an institution, or a nation-state.

The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it.

God, I want to die in you.

When I am bored with myself, I try to find someone to listen to me.

No thought, no mind, no choice — just being silent, rooted in yourself.

Perhaps love is only the highest symbol of friendship, as all other things seem symbols of love.

A profound dislike for merely absorbing knowledge and a compulsion to learn by doing are among the most reliable signs of genius.