More from The Life of Reason, Vol 2
- American life is a powerful solvent. It seems to neutralize every intellectual element, however tough and alien it may be, and to fuse it in the native good will, complacency, thoughtlessness, and optimism.
- Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable: what it is or what it means can never be said.
- Beauty is a pledge of the possible conformity between the soul and nature, and consequently a ground of faith in the supremacy of the good.
- Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.
- Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment.
- I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world; but private wealth I should decline, or any sort of personal possessions, because they would take away my liberty.
Last reviewed 2026-07-06