What really counted was the possibility of escape, a leap to freedom, out of the implacable ritual, a wild run for it that would give whatever chance for hope there was. Of course, hope meant being cut down on some street corner, as you ran like mad, by a random bullet. But when I really thought it through, nothing was going to allow me such a luxury. Everything was against it; I would just be caught up in the machinery again.

For who would dare to assert that eternal happiness can compensate for a single moment's human suffering

Crime too is a form of solitude, even if one thousand get together to commit it. And it is right for me to die alone, after having lived and killed alone.

The danger of lectures is that they create the illusion of teaching for teachers, and the illusion of learning for learners.

If absolute truth belongs to anyone in this world, it certainly does not belong to the man or party that claims to possess it.

What is human in me is not what is best in me. What is human in me is that I desire, and to obtain what I desire, I believe I would crush anything that stood in my way.

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.