“Common people do not pray; they only beg.”

“Written over the gate here are the words 'Leave every hope behind, ye who enter.' Only think what a relief that is! For what is hope? A form of moral responsibility. Here there is no hope, and consequently no duty, no work, nothing to be gained by praying, nothing to be lost by doing what you like. Hell, in short is a place where you have nothing to do but amuse yourself.”

“[Chess] is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time. ”

“Do you think that the things people make fools of themselves about are any less real and true than the things they behave sensibly about? They are more true: they are the only things that are true.”

“People do not become great by doing great things. They do great things because they are great.”

“The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”

“...a man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage.”