We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one which we preach, but do not practice, and another which we practice, but seldom preach.
We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought.
The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holder’s lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.
The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them.
Patriotism: a willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
One of the most powerful of all our passions is the desire to be admired and respected.
No man is liberated from fear who dare not see his place in the world as it is; no man can achieve the greatness of which he is capable until he has allowed himself to see his own littleness.
Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power.
Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful, and valued because they confer power; they are hated because they are hideous, and loathed because they impose slavery.
Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day.
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.
