“My dear child, you must believe in God despite what the clergy tells you.”

All translation is a compromise – the effort to be literal and the effort to be idiomatic.

Now in these troubled times, even more than ever, we need an affirmation that there is goodness and beauty in the world.

Young men make great mistakes in life; for one thing, they idealize love too much.

Never retreat. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl.

There is a great deal of hard lying in the world; especially among people whose characters are above suspicion.

I am not blaming the past. … But I want the peace of God to settle on the future.

Precautions are always blamed. When successful they are said to be unnecessary.

If you don’t find a God by five o’clock this afternoon you must leave the college.

It is most important in this world to be pushing, but it is fatal to seem so.

We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.

Grace is an energy; not a mere sentiment; not a mere thought of the Almighty; not even a word of the Almighty.

We can’t search or attain well being, wealth, studying, justice or kindness usually. Action is all the time particular, concrete, individualized, distinctive.

Give the clergy your sympathy; don’t give them anything else.

The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them.

Plato’s dialogues bear at least some similarities to the classical plays.

Jowett, in his day, did probably more than any other single man to let some fresh air into the exhausted atmosphere of the [Oxford] common rooms, and to widen the intellectual horizons of the place.

The right to be irresponsible and stupid is something I hold very dear. And luckily it is something I do well.

Dear God,’ she prayed, ‘let me be something every minute of every hour of my life.’

I lost a very dear friend who lived with AIDS for about 17 years. Rejecting early treatments that were iffy, he thought he saved himself. I really miss him a lot.

There’s no time for conversation dear, moan is all I want to hear.

The stage is near and dear to me.

It holds for good polity ever, to have that outwardly in vilest estimation, which inwardly is most dear to us.

A heretic, my dear sir, is a fellow who disagrees with you regarding something neither of you knows anything about.

They tried stoning me, my dear. It did not work.