Men will more and more realize that there is no meaning in democracy if there is no meaning in anything; there is no meaning in anything if the universe has not a center of significance and an authority that is the author of our rights.

The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.

There was something of relative freedom in that feudal gesture of the vow; for no man asks vows from slaves anymore than from spades.

The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt grateful,though I hardly knew to whom. Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in theirstockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in mystockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigarsand slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?

But the humorous look of children is perhaps the most endearing of all the bonds that hold the Cosmos together. Their top-heavy dignity is more touching than any humility; their solemnity gives us more hope for all things than a thousand carnivals of optimism; their large and lustrous eyes seem to hold all the stars in their astonishment; their fascinating absence of nose seems to give to us the most perfect hint of the humour that awaits us in the kingdom of heaven.