The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there read more

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.

When the Greeks said, "Whom the gods love die young," they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored read more

When the Greeks said, "Whom the gods love die young," they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored by the gods stay young till the day they die; young and playful.

The well-adjusted make poor prophets.

The well-adjusted make poor prophets.

The honest man must be a perpetual renegade, the life of an honest man a perpetual infidelity. For the man read more

The honest man must be a perpetual renegade, the life of an honest man a perpetual infidelity. For the man who wishes to remain faithful to truth must make himself perpetually unfaithful to all the continual, successive, indefatigable renascent errors.

What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a read more

What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.

The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves read more

The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a passing raft. What looks like a giving hand is often a holding on for dear life. Take away our holy duties and you leave our lives puny and meaningless. There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.

What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.

What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.

The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and read more

The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.

Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the read more

Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every valuable thing that has been added to the store of man's possessions has been derided by them when it was new, and destroyed by them when they had the power. They have fought every new truth ever heard of, and they have killed every truth-seeker who got into their hands.