Be free all worthy spirits, and stretch yourselves, for greatness and for height.

Be free all worthy spirits, and stretch yourselves, for greatness and for height.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.

Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.

It doesn't matter how many say it cannot be done or how many people have tried it before; it's important read more

It doesn't matter how many say it cannot be done or how many people have tried it before; it's important to realize that whatever you're doing, it's your first attempt at it.

A man must not swallow more beliefs than he can digest.

A man must not swallow more beliefs than he can digest.

The Christian churches were offered two things: the spirit of Jesus and the idiotic morality of Paul, and they rejected read more

The Christian churches were offered two things: the spirit of Jesus and the idiotic morality of Paul, and they rejected the higher inspiration... Following Paul, we have turned the goodness of love into a fiend and degraded the crowning impulse of our being into a capital sin.

It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is read more

It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry.

When we debunk a fanatical faith or prejudice, we do not strike at the root of fanaticism. We merely prevent read more

When we debunk a fanatical faith or prejudice, we do not strike at the root of fanaticism. We merely prevent its leaking out at a certain point, with the likely result that it will leak out at some other point. Thus by denigrating prevailing beliefs and loyalties, the militant man of words unwittingly creates in the disillusioned masses a hunger for faith. For the majority of people cannot endure the barrenness and futility of their lives unless they have some ardent dedication, or some passionate pursuit in which they can lose themselves. Thus, in spite of himself, the scoffing man of words becomes the precursor of a new faith.

And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own read more

And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.