Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Certes, they been lye to hounds, for an hound when he cometh by the roses, or by other bushes, though read more

Certes, they been lye to hounds, for an hound when he cometh by the roses, or by other bushes, though he may nat pisse, yet wole he heve up his leg and make a countenance to pisse.

The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so.

The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so.

From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step.

From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step.

Collective judgement of new ideas is so often wrong that it is arguable that progress depends on individuals being free read more

Collective judgement of new ideas is so often wrong that it is arguable that progress depends on individuals being free to back their own judgement despite collective disapproval.

The power of habit and the charm of novelty are the two adverse forces which explain the follies of mankind.

The power of habit and the charm of novelty are the two adverse forces which explain the follies of mankind.

An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything in to read more

An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything in to an empty head.

My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.

My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.

There is apparently some connection between dissatisfaction with oneself and proneness to credulity. The urge to escape our real self read more

There is apparently some connection between dissatisfaction with oneself and proneness to credulity. The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. The refusal to see ourselves as we are develops a distaste for facts and cold logic. There is no hope for the frustrated in the actual and the possible. Salvation can come to them only from the miraculous, which seeps through a crack in the iron wall of inexorable reality. They asked to be deceived.