“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts…” [...]
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Animals and Man’s Vanity
“It is just like man’s vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.”
People Want to be Admired
“It is human nature to take delight in exciting admiration. It is what prompts children to say “smart” things, and do absurd ones, and in other ways “show off” when company is present. It is what makes gossips turn out in rain and storm to go and be the first to tell a startling bit of news.”
A Personal Stake Leads to Action
“It is always the way; words will answer as long as it is only a person’s neighbor who is in trouble, but when that person gets into trouble himself, it is time that the King rise up and do something.”
A Man’s Self-Approval
“A man will do ANYTHING, no matter what it is, TO SECURE HIS SPIRITUAL COMFORT; and he can neither be forced nor persuaded to any act which has not that goal for its object. …A man cannot be comfortable without HIS OWN approval. He will secure the largest share possible of that, at all costs, all sacrifices.”
Proportionate Grief
“Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of a crown are events of the same size.”
Patriotic Loyalty and Responsibility
“You see my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions or its office-holders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can [...]
Our Adversaries Are Insane
“The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. When I look around me, I am often troubled to see how many people are mad.”
Humor Leads to a Sunny Spirit
“Humor is the great thing, the saving thing, after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.”
That Natural Expression of Villainy
“Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.”
Fiction is Obliged to Stick to Possibilities
“Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.”
The Prejudice of History
“The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.”
Telling the Strict Truth
“Often, the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth.”
Bearing False Witness
“There are 869 different forms of lying, but only one of them has been squarely forbidden. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
Grief and Joy
“Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.”
