Civilisation consists in the multiplication and refinement of human wants.

The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.

The past is malleable and flexible, 

changing as our recollection 

interprets and re-explains 

what has happened.

What I have known 

with respect to myself, 

has tended much to lessen 

both my admiration, 

and my contempt, 

of others.

So long as we use a certain language, 

all questions that we can ask 

will have to be formulated in it 

and will thereby confirm the theory of the universe 

which is implied in the vocabulary and structure of the language.

Authority has every reason to fear the sceptic, 

for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.

Intuition enlightens 

and so links up with pure thought. 

They together become an intelligence 

which is not simply of the brain, 

which does not calculate, 

but feels and thinks.

All living beings, 

not just animals, 

but plants and microorganisms, 

perceive. 

To survive, 

an organic being must perceive — 

it must seek, or at least recognise, food 

and avoid environmental danger.

I believe much trouble would be saved 

if we opened our hearts more.

The cause of justice is the cause of humanity. 

Its advocates should overflow with universal good will. 

We should love this cause, 

for it conduces to the general happiness of mankind.

It is rather fantastic to realise 

that the laws of physics can describe 

how everything was created in a random quantum fluctuation out of nothing, 

and how over the course of 15 billion years, 

matter could organise in such complex ways 

that we have human beings sitting here, talking, 

doing things intentionally.

One of the delights known to age, 

and beyond the grasp of youth, 

is that of Not Going.

Fortunately, 

somewhere between chance and mystery 

lies imagination, 

the only thing that protects our freedom, 

despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it 

or kill it off altogether.

Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.

Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals 

because what they must do 

is the same as 

what they most want to do.

All my life, my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name.

As to the evil which results from a censorship, 

it is impossible to measure it, 

for it is impossible to tell where it ends.

The rich, 

by unfair combinations, 

contribute frequently 

to prolong a season of distress 

among the poor.

If the misery of the poor be caused 

not by the laws of nature, 

but by our institutions, 

great is our sin.

What I have tried to show is that the scientific attitude implies 

what I call the postulate of objectivity

 — that is to say, the fundamental postulate 

that there is no plan, 

that there is no intention in the universe.

No one is useless in this world 

who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.

Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.

We are always the same age inside.

There is no heresy 

or no philosophy 

which is so abhorrent 

to the church 

as a human being.

The man who has ceased to fear has ceased to care.

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

We see and hear 

and otherwise experience 

very largely as we do 

because the language habits of our community 

predispose certain choices of interpretation.

Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. 

Security is an insipid thing.

Truth emerges more readily from error 

than from confusion.

The great art of life is sensation, 

to feel that we exist, 

even in pain.

I have always observed 

that to succeed in the world 

one should seem a fool, 

but be wise.

Where sense is wanting, 

everything is wanting.

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. 

There is always something to make you wonder 

in the shape of a tree, 

the trembling of a leaf.

In Socrates' thought 

the two marks of individual self-consciousness appear; 

it is practical and it is social.

Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, 

and hate within will eventually destroy the hater.

Without courage, 

wisdom bears no fruit.

I am thankful I can see much to admire in all religions.

Our only security is our ability to change.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.

What I dream of is an art of balance, 

of purity and serenity 

devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter

 — a soothing, calming influence on the mind, 

rather like a good armchair 

which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.

There are times 

when the air that floats between mortals 

becomes, 

in its stillness and silence, 

as cruel as the edge of a scythe.

Truth is the daughter of time, 

and I feel no shame in being her midwife.

The trick is in what one emphasises. 

We either make ourselves miserable, 

or we make ourselves happy. 

The amount of work is the same.

Then there is the further question of 

what is the relationship of thinking to reality. 

As careful attention shows, 

thought itself is in an actual process of movement.

The most precious things in speech are pauses.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. 

Just like everyone else.

One's friends are that part of the human race 

with which one can be human.