“Dogmatism is the greatest of mental obstacles to human happiness.”

It seems to me fundamental dishonesty, and a fundamental treachery to intellectual integrity to hold a belief because you think it’s useful and not because you think it’s true.

The fundamental concept in social science is power, in the same sense in which energy is the fundamental concept in physics.

To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present, very few people have reached this level.

There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.

How much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty?

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already 3 parts dead.

It’s easy to fall in love. The hard part is finding someone to catch you.

I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive.

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of great fear.

Your writing is never as good as you hoped, but never as bad as you feared.

Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.

One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.

Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives’ mouths.

Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.

Every day, I work at not taking this fame thing seriously. Fortunately, I have a great group of friends who help me do this.

But to put out a greatest hits on one CD was totally impossible, I just couldn’t do it. The best compromise was to put out two CDs – Early Days – which is what it is – and Latter Days.

They looked great, you know the drawings of the guys playing looked great and bits of string around their necks. So it didn’t seem to be that difficult a thing to do, or that inaccessible.

In times of great necessity, violence is indispensable.

Romantic dramas? I love The Notebook. Titanic was great. Classic.

The great virtue of being alone is that your mind can go its own way.

History is not reassuring on the subject of the longevity of seemingly lasting great nations, is it?

We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers.