A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an "intellectual"- find out how he feels about astrology.

A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an "intellectual"- find out how he feels about astrology.

Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.

Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.

It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows read more

It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous...The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge.

I have steadily endeavored to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and read more

I have steadily endeavored to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as the facts are shown to be opposed to it.

Men have ascribed to God imperfections that they would deplore in themselves.

Men have ascribed to God imperfections that they would deplore in themselves.

There is nothing to be found in a beehive that is not submerged in a bee. And yet you can read more

There is nothing to be found in a beehive that is not submerged in a bee. And yet you can search a bee forever with cyclotron and fluoroscope, and you will never find the hive.

Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the read more

Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the fanatic and the moderate who are poles apart and never meet.

Without an element of the obscene there can be no true and deep aesthetic or moral conception of life...It is read more

Without an element of the obscene there can be no true and deep aesthetic or moral conception of life...It is only the great men who are truly obscene. If they had not dared to be obscene they could never have dared to be great.

I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to read more

I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.