Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.

• Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.
• We make our friends we make our enemies but God makes our next door neighbour.
• Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.
• Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know.
• People who make history know nothing about history. You can see that in the sort of history they make.
• Dogmatism does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought.
• Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.
• There is something to be said for every error but, whatever may be said for it, the most important thing to be said about it is that it is erroneous.
• The only words that ever satisfied me as describing Nature are the terms used in fairy books, charm, spell, enchantment. They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery.
• Coincidences are spiritual puns.