Reading furnishes the mind only with materials for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.

Reading furnishes the mind only with materials for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.

It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since read more

It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since man has no inborn skills, the survival of the species has depended on the ability to acquire and perfect skills. Hence the mastery of skills is a uniquely human activity and yields deep satisfaction.

I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.

I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

It is generally recognized that creativity requires leisure, an absence of rush, time for the mind and imagination to float read more

It is generally recognized that creativity requires leisure, an absence of rush, time for the mind and imagination to float and wander and roam, time for the individual to descend into the depths of his or her psyche, to be available to barely audible signals rustling for attention. Long periods of time may pass in which nothing seems to be happening. But we know that kind of space must be created if the mind is to leap out of its accustomed ruts, to part from the mechanical, the known, the familiar, the standard, and generate a leap into the new.

It is not sheer malice that pricks our ears to evil reports about our fellow men. For there are frequent read more

It is not sheer malice that pricks our ears to evil reports about our fellow men. For there are frequent moments when we feel lower than the lowest of mankind, and this opinion of ourselves isolates us. Hence the rumor that all flesh is base comes almost as a message of hope. It breaks down the wall that has kept us apart, and we feel one with humanity.

There is an accumulative cruelty in a number of men, though none in particular are ill-natured.

There is an accumulative cruelty in a number of men, though none in particular are ill-natured.

There is only one honest impulse at the bottom of Puritanism, and that is the impulse to punish the man read more

There is only one honest impulse at the bottom of Puritanism, and that is the impulse to punish the man with a superior capacity for happiness.

Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.

Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.