No one ever heard of the truth being enforced by law. When the secular is called in to sustain an idea, whether new or old, it is always a bad idea, and not infrequently it is downright idiotic.

My guess is that well over eighty per cent. of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought..

As for me, my literary theory, like my politics, is based chiefly upon one main idea, to wit, the idea of freedom. I am, in brief, a libertarian of the most extreme variety, and know of no human right that is one-tenth as valuable as the simple right to utter what seems (at the moment) to be the truth

It seems to me that a great university ought to have room in it for men subscribing to every sort of idea that is currently prevalent

Platitude: an idea (a) that is admitted to be true by everyone, and (b) that is not true.

As if paralyzed by the national fear of ideas, the democratic distrust of whatever strikes beneath the prevailing platitudes, it evades all resolute and honest dealing with what, after all, must be every healthy literature's elementary materials.

The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea for a better one; the essence of theology is that it holds its truths to be eternal and immutable.

Save among politicians it is no longer necessary for any educated American to profess belief in Thirteenth Century ideas

We suffer most when the White House busts with ideas.