Wisdom is not to be obtained from textbooks, but must be coined out of human experience in the flame of life.

A creative element is surely present in all great systems, and it does not seem possible that all sympathy or fundamental attitudes of will can be entirely eliminated from any human philosophy.

Cruel persecutions and intolerance are not accidents, but grow out of the very essence of religion, namely, its absolute claims.

Law must be viewed as a formless mass of isolated decisions.

Conservatism clings to what has been established, fearing that, once we begin to question the beliefs that we have inherited, all the values of life will be destroyed.

Let philosophy resolutely aim to be as scientific as possible, but let her not forget her strong kinship with literature.

Small groups or communities may be far more oppressive to the individual than larger ones. Men are in many ways freer in large cities than in small villages.

Again, both literature and philosophy work by appealing to certain reigning idols.

The picture which the philosopher draws of the world is surely not one in which every stroke is necessitated by pure logic.

Lastly, literature and philosophy both allow past idols to be resurrected with a frequency which would be truly distressing to a sober scientist.

If religion cannot restrain evil, it cannot claim effective power for good.

Vision Birth Focus

I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humor.

The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for. If you want ants to come, you put sugar on the floor.

What we love in others we not only awaken in others, but we develop those very things more or less in ourselves.

It probably helps that my background is in the sciences and I can speak the scientists' language.

My gratitude to them [my first teachers] grows as I myself grow older.

In extreme danger fear feels no pity. [Lat., In summo periculo timor miericordiam non recipit.]

If I had a choice, and there was a "Y" in the road, I would always take the one that was more fun as opposed to the one that might make me more money.

Sometimes we look at a work of art and we immediately think that it is German art, but with some we don't, it's not so obvious.