“If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.”

The demand for certainty is one that is natural to man but is nevertheless an intellectual vice.

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

I hate being all tidy like a book in a library where nobody reads – prison is horribly like that.

Philosophy, from the earliest times, has made greater claims, and achieved fewer results, than any other branch of learning.

No nation was ever so virtuous as each believes itself, and none was ever so wicked as each believes the other.

I consider the official Catholic attitude on divorce, birth control, and censorship exceedingly dangerous to mankind.

Even if all the experts agree, they may well be mistaken.

Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or creed.

Sometimes the hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn.

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.

Dogmatism is the greatest of mental obstacles to human happiness.

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

It is impossible to make anything beautiful or desirable in the best regulated administration of slavery.

Small, deliberate actions inspired by your true desires create a life you love.

You’ve got to have this burning desire in your chest to succeed.

In order to fulfill your true purpose in life, you must give up on your temporary desires.

God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better.

Heartbreak does not have to be a meaningless experience. For many, it is a spiritual catalyst – a pathway to awakening to ones deepest desires for love, purpose and connection.

Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds.

What if desire wasn’t an urge to be tamed, but a beacon of truth to be followed?