“We have not the reverent feeling for the rainbow that a savage has, because we know how it is made…” [...]
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The Silent Colossal National Lie
“The spoken lie is of no consequence, and it is not worth while to go around fussing about it and trying to make believe that it is an important matter. The silent colossal National Lie that is the support and confederate of all the tyrannies and shams and inequalities and unfairnesses that afflict the peoples—that is the one to throw bricks and sermons at.”
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.”
Knowing Right From Wrong
“The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.”
Courage is Resistance to Fear
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”
Profanity and Prayer
“Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.”
Virtues and Cussedness
“None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try.”
Everyone Has a Dark Side
“Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”
Statemanship and Morality
“In statesmanship get the formalities right, never mind about the moralities.”
The Lives of a Cat and a Lie
“The principal difference between a cat and a lie is that the cat has only nine lives.”
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.”
The Moral Sense and the Immoral Sense
“There is a Moral sense, and there is an Immoral Sense. History shows us that the Moral Sense enables us to perceive morality and how to avoid it, and that the Immoral Sense enables us to perceive immorality and how to enjoy it.”
