The true measure of your character is what you do when nobody's watching.
Mathematics rightly viewed possesses not only truth but supreme beauty.
The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth - more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. . . Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
We may define "faith" as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of "faith. " We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. The substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups, substitute different emotions.
Envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness.
I believe four ingredients are necessary for happiness: health, warm personal relations, sufficient means to keep you from want, and successful work.
I say if a novelty Christmas song is funny one time, then it is funny every time. - Calvin
Trying to impress my mother with words was one of my favourite pursuits.
Religion exalts mystery as an unknowable secret that must be sealed in glass like the corpse of an enchanted princess and fearfully worshipped from afar. Initiation, on the other hand, requires direct participation and demands each of us to smash the casket and press mad lips to mystery, wooing her as a lover who will offer up her treasurers in a succession of sweet surrenders. This she will do, but only in exact ratio to our evolving ability and worthiness to receive them.
I'm so reluctant to do newspaper interviews because it's so misleading how they interpret what you say.