“It is a fine thing to establish one's own religion in one's heart, not to be dependent on tradition and second-hand ideals. Life will seem to you, later, not a lesser, but a greater thing.”

“One of the most tragicomic things in life is that when a man makes an imaginary thing – such as a religion – as his own flag and carries it all his life and even dies for it! An intelligent man has only one flag: Flag of reason and science!”

“What you hold in your heart is far greater than the things you hold in your hand.”

“If there is a change, it is usually for the lesser rather than the greater; many people seem to lose God along life's way.”

“Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.”

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”