If prosperity is regarded as the reward of virtue it will be regarded as the symptom of virtue.

A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon.

One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.

What affects men sharply about a foreign nation is not so much finding or not finding familiar things; it is rather not finding them in the familiar place.

If you do not understand a man you cannot crush him. And if you do understand him, very probably you will not.

The poetry of art is in beholding the single tower; the poetry of nature in seeing the single tree; the poetry of love in following the single woman; the poetry of religion in worshipping the single star.

Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell.

The vulgar man is always the most distinguished, for the very desire to be distinguished is vulgar.

Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem.

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.