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

"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Neither love without knowledge, nor knowledge without love can produce a good life."

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

"Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish for ever."

"In America everybody is of opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards. There is on this subject a profound and widespread hypocrisy whenever people talk in general terms."

"An enlightened public opinion can only be generated by the efforts of those who desire that it should exist."

"Too much fuss is sometimes made about the fact that propaganda appeals to emotion rather than reason. The line between emotion and reason is not so sharp as some people think."

"To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level."