My profession lent itself nicely to my vocation for heights. It freed me of any bitterness towards my fellow men, who were alwaysin my debt, without my owing them anything. It placed me above the judge whom, I in turn judged, above the defendant whom I forced into gratitude.

I felt the urge to reassure him that I was like everybody else, just like everybody else.

But above all, in order to be, never try to seem.

We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love - first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.

In the world today, only a philosophy of eternity could justify non-violence.

To correct a natural indifference I was placed half-way between misery and the sun. Misery kept me from believing that all was well under the sun, and the sun taught me that history wasn't everything.

But all the long speeches, all the interminable days and hours that people had spent talking about my soul, had left me with the impression of a colorless swirling river that was making me dizzy.