In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion; in order to serve others better, one has to hold them at a distance for a time. But where can one find the solitude necessary to vigor, the deep breath in which the mind collects itself and courage gauges its strength? There remain big cities.

Youth is above all a collection of possibilities.

...Any authentic creation is a gift to the future.

An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.

The current motto for all of us can only be this: without giving up anything on the plane of justice, yield nothing on the plane of freedom.

You have to be very rich or very poor to live without a trade.

So the thing that bothered me most was that the condemned man had to hope the machine would work the first time.