We should read to give our souls a chance to luxuriate.

Whatever needs to be maintained through force is doomed.

No man is great enough or wise enough for any of us to surrender our destiny to. The only way in which anyone can lead us is to restore to us the belief in our own guidance.

One has to be a lowbrow, a bit of a murderer, to be a politician, ready and willing to see people sacrificed, slaughtered, for the sake of an idea, whether a good one or a bad one.

Every man with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race.

The tragedy of it is that nobody sees the look of desperation on my face. Thousands and thousands of us, and we're passing one another without a look of recognition.

Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

The man who looks for security, even in the mind, is like a man who would chop off his limbs in order to have artificial ones which will give him no pain or trouble.

We live in the mind, in ideas, in fragments. We no longer drink in the wild outer music of the streets - we remember only.

I have always looked upon decay as being just as wonderful and rich an expression of life as growth.

We have two American flags always: one for the rich and one for the poor. When the rich fly it means that things are under control; when the poor fly it means danger, revolution, anarchy.

Imagination is the voice of daring. If there is anything Godlike about God it is that. He dared to imagine everything.

Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.

Honest criticism means nothing: what one wants is unrestrained passion, fire for fire.

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

The world is not to be put in order; the world is order, incarnate. It is for us to harmonize with this order.

There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy.

I see America spreading disaster. I see America as a black curse upon the world. I see a long night settling in and that mushroom which has poisoned the world withering at the roots.

Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood.

All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.

We live at the edge of the miraculous.

Whatever there be of progress in life comes not through adaptation but through daring.

Life is 440 horsepower in a 2-cylinder engine.

In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance.