Society and the World

Those who have been once intoxicated with power . . . can never willingly abandon it.

Most people live . . . in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness . . . much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger.

Many possessions, if they do not make a man better, are at least expected to make his children happier; and this pathetic hope is behind many exertions.

Possessions possess.

It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.

It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.

Politics is a game of compromise . . . faith isn’t.

Possessions delude the human heart into believing that they provide security and a worry-free existence, but in truth they are the very cause of worry.

The garb of religion is the best cloak for power.

The garb of religion is the best cloak for power.

Politics, n . A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

Politics, n . A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.

In educating the young we use pleasure and pain as rudders to steer their course.

How many of us have been incited to reason, have first learned to think, to draw conclusions, to extract a moral from the follies of life by some dazzling aphorism.

I love Nature partly because she is not man, but a retreat from him. None of his institutions control or pervade her. There a different kind of right prevails.

Americans are nature-lovers: but they only admit of nature proofed and corrected by man.

We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all of the motives which produced them.

Unexpected money is a delight. The same sum is a bitterness when you expected more.

Money—pardon my expression—money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow.

Money often costs too much.

Money’s a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.

We all need money, but there are degrees of desperation.