Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.

The mold in which a key is made would be a strange thing, if you had never seen a key: and the key itself a strange thing if you had never seen a lock. Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions. Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it — made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand

The safest way of not being very miserable is not to expect to be very happy

A good motto to live by: ‘Always try not to get killed.’