Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.
Either Man will abolish war, or war will abolish Man.
Drunkenness, for example, is temporary suicide; the happiness that it brings is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhappiness.
Dogmatism is an enemy to peace, and an insuperable barrier to democracy. In the present age, at least as much as in former times, it is the greatest of the mental obstacles to human happiness.
Dogmatism and scepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or of ignorance.
Discipline and indiscipline are the twin children of Authority.
Conventional people are roused to fury by departures from convention, largely because they regard such departures as a criticism of themselves.
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity towards those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
Civilized people cannot fully satisfy their sexual instinct without love.
Christianity offers reasons for not fearing death or the universe, and in so doing it fails to teach adequately the virtue of courage.
Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
Belief in God and a future life makes it possible to go through life with less of stoic courage than is needed by sceptics.
