The progress of freedom depends more upon the maintenance of peace, the spread of commerce, and the diffusion of education, read more

The progress of freedom depends more upon the maintenance of peace, the spread of commerce, and the diffusion of education, than upon the labors of cabinets and foreign offices.

It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; read more

It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; that they are showing the way when they are running away; that they see the light when they feel the heat; that they are chosen when they are shunned.

After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, read more

After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked—as I am surprisingly often—why I bother to get up in the mornings.

The seeing of objects involves many sources of information beyond those meeting the eye when we look at an object. read more

The seeing of objects involves many sources of information beyond those meeting the eye when we look at an object. It generally involves knowledge of the object derived from previous experience, and this experience is not limited to vision but may include the other senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing, and perhaps also temperature or pain.

Nature does not loathe virtue: it is unaware of its existence. - A Letter to Myself.

Nature does not loathe virtue: it is unaware of its existence. - A Letter to Myself.

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.

Tragedy and comedy are but two aspects of what is real, and whether we see the tragic or the humorous read more

Tragedy and comedy are but two aspects of what is real, and whether we see the tragic or the humorous is a matter of perspective.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.

It costs to be stupid. The stupider you are, the more it costs.

It costs to be stupid. The stupider you are, the more it costs.