“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

“A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”

“The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.”

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

“Earth is the insane asylum of the universe.”

“Somebody who only reads newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors looks to me like an extremely near-sighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else.”

“The tendencies we have mentioned are something new for America. They arose when, under the influence of the two World Wars and the consequent concentration of all forces on a military goal, a predominantly military mentality developed, which with the almost sudden victory became even more accentuated. The characteristic feature of this mentality is that people place the importance of what Bertrand Russell so tellingly terms “naked power” far above all other factors which affect the relations between peoples. The Germans, misled by Bismarck’s successes in particular, underwent just such a transformation of their mentality—in consequence of which they were entirely ruined in less than a hundred years. I must frankly confess that the foreign policy of the United States since the termination of hostilities has reminded me, sometimes irresistibly, of the attitude of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II, and I know that, independent of me, this analogy has most painfully occurred to others as well. It is characteristic of the military mentality that non-human factors (atom bombs, strategic bases, weapons of all sorts, the possession of raw materials, etc.) are held essential, while the human being, his desires and thoughts—in short, the psychological factors—are considered as unimportant and secondary. Herein lies a certain resemblance to Marxism, at least insofar as its theoretical side alone is kept in view. The individual is degraded to a mere instrument; he becomes “human materiel.” The normal ends of human aspiration vanish with such a viewpoint. Instead, the military mentality raises “naked power” as a goal in itself—one of the strangest illusions to which men can succumb.”

“Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it isn't true.”

“I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”

“Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.”

“The environment is everything that isn't me.”

“Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate.”

“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”

“There is nothing divine about morality, it is a purely human affair.”

“For rebelling against every form of authority fate has punished me by making me an authority.”