The proper work of man, the grand drift of human life, is to follow reason, that noble spark kindled in us from heaven.
I act as a sponge. I soak it up and squeeze it out in ink every two weeks.
I keep going over a sentence. I nag it, gnaw it, pat and flatter it.
Genius is immediate, but talent takes time.
In the history of art there are periods when bread seems so beautiful that it nearly gets into museums.
Never have nights been more beautiful than these nights of anxiety. In the sky have been shining in trinity the moon, Venus and Mars. Nature has been more splendid than man.
. . . people who don't want something are less likely to get it than people who do want something.
I'm going up to my room now, where I may die.
Risk-taking is the essence of innovation.
I've led this empty life for over forty years and now I can pass that heritage on and ensure that the misery will continue for at least one more generation.
Being satisfied to drink the dregs from the cup of human progress will not demonstrate our fitness as a people to exist alongside of others, but when of our own initiative we strike out to build industries, governments, and ultimately empires, then and only then will we as a race prove to our creator and to man in general that we are fit to survive and capable of shaping our own destiny.