Young people wonder how the adult world can be so boring. The secret is that it is not boring to adults because they have learnt to enjoy simple things like covert malice at one another's expense.

I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.

In an autocracy, one person has his way; in an aristocracy, a few people have their way; in a democracy, no one has his way.

Society expresses its sympathy for the geniuses of the past to distract attention from the fact that it has no intention of being sympathetic to the geniuses of the present.

A narrow mind and a wide mouth usually go together.

The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment.

When someone says his conclusions are objective, he means that they are based on prejudices which many other people share.

Lack of clarity is always a sign of dishonesty.

One of the greatest superstitions of our time is the belief that it has none.

The human race has to be bad at psychology; if it were not, it would understand why it is bad at everything else.

The only important thing to realise about history is that it all took place in the last five minutes.

The human soul is heavy, clumsy, held in the mud of the flesh. Its perceptions are still coarse and brutish. It can divine nothing clearly, nothing with certainty.

I try to live my life every day in the present, and try not to turn a blind eye to injustice and

Change creates fear, and technology creates change. Sadly, most people don't behave very well when they are afraid.

In this world, I've got no choice: there is nothing left at all; and you don't notice, but that's all right: you don't know what it's like.

The right time to show your good character is when you are pestered by someone weaker than you.

I will it, I order it, let my will stand for a reason.

Once I'm already in my room, I still have to open a door to get into my bed. It's like a giant box. It's like the boy in a bubble.

You don't see artists sitting around a lot, talking about ideology. They find out what they believe, and what they're doing, by doing it.

Unselfish love for all people without exception is the most important point of convergence among all significant spiritualities and religions.

Private enterprise manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal.