“For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point and does not break.”

“The word 'heresy' not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word 'orthodoxy' not only no longer means being right; it practically means being wrong.”

“There is only one thing that that it requires real courage to say, and that is a truism.”

“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.”

“Latter-day scepticism is fond of calling itself progressive; but scepticism is really reactionary. Scepticism goes back; it attempts to unsettle what has already been settled. Instead of trying to break up new fields with its plough, it simply tries to break up the plough.”

“Madness does not come by breaking out, but by giving in; by settling down in some dirty, little, self-repeating circle of ideas; by being tamed.”

“Think of all those ages through which men have had the courage to die, and then remember that we have actually fallen to talking about having the courage to live.”