It is the test of a good religion whether you can make a joke about it.

It is the test of a good religion whether you can make a joke about it.

A man that would expect to train lobsters to fly in a year is called a lunatic; but a man read more

A man that would expect to train lobsters to fly in a year is called a lunatic; but a man that thinks men can be turned into angels by an election is a reformer and remains at large.

The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human read more

The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human nature. The mob and the intellectuals derived from it the vision of a Golden Age which would arrive without fail once the noble human race could act according to its whims.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because
he is sufficient for himself, read more

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because
he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity.

A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity.

Jefferson thought schools would produce free men: we prove him right by putting dropouts in jail.

Jefferson thought schools would produce free men: we prove him right by putting dropouts in jail.

Those families, you know, are our upper crust, not upper ten
thousand.

Those families, you know, are our upper crust, not upper ten
thousand.

There is in the universe something for the description and analysis of which the natural sciences cannot contribute anything. There read more

There is in the universe something for the description and analysis of which the natural sciences cannot contribute anything. There are events beyond the range of those events that the procedures of the natural sciences are fit to observe and describe. There is human action.

There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization. The read more

There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization. The practical organization offers opportunities for self-advancement, and its appeal is mainly to self-interest. On the other hand, a mass movement, particularly in its active, revivalist phase, appeals not to those intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self. A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation.