“Despite these afternoon misgivings and self-reproaches I clung to my notion, ill-defined though it was, that a serious study of human knowledge, or theory, or belief, if undertaken with a critical but not a cruel mind, would in the end yield some secret, some valuable permanent insight, into the nature of life and the true end of man.”

“There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.”

“Their very conservatism is secondhand, and they don't know what they are conserving.”

“I do not 'get' ideas ideas get me.”

“Do not suppose, however, that I intend to urge a diet of classics on anybody. I have seen such diets at work. I have known people who have actually read all, or almost all, the guaranteed Hundred Best Books. God save us from reading nothing but the best.”

“The great book for you is the book that has the most to say to you at the moment when you are reading. I do not mean the book that is most instructive, but the book that feeds your spirit. And that depends on your age, your experience, your psychological and spiritual need.”

“The love of truth lies at the root of much humor.”

“The most original thing a writer can do is write like himself. It is also his most difficult task.”

“The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is in fact a return to the idealized past.”

“A man must be obedient to the promptings of his innermost heart.”

“If we seek the pleasures of love passion should be occasional and common sense continual.”