The supreme irony of life is that no one gets out of it alive.

The supreme irony of life is that no one gets out of it alive.

To get into the best society nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people.

To get into the best society nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people.

The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, read more

The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games to which it is most attached is called, ''Keep tomorrow dark,'' and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) ''Cheat the Prophet.'' The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. Then they go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.

You cannot criticize the New Testament. It criticizes you.

You cannot criticize the New Testament. It criticizes you.

In history the way of annihilation is invariably prepared by inward degeneration, by decrease of life. Only then can a read more

In history the way of annihilation is invariably prepared by inward degeneration, by decrease of life. Only then can a shock from outside put an end to the whole.

You can only cure retail but you can prevent wholesale.

You can only cure retail but you can prevent wholesale.

To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of read more

To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.

Trivial facts are often the best hints to what is going on.

Trivial facts are often the best hints to what is going on.

To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is read more

To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is only when we see ourselves as actors in a staged (and therefore unreal) performance that death loses its frightfulness and finality and becomes an act of make-believe and a theatrical gesture. It is one of the main tasks of a real leader to mask the grim reality of dying and killing by evoking in his followers the illusion that they are participating in a grandiose spectacle, a solemn or lighthearted dramatic performance.