Gilbert Jonas, painter, believed in his star.... His own faith was not, however, without its virtues because it consisted in admitting, in some obscure way, that he would obtain many things without deserving them.

There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.

It should be pointed out for our own guidance in the West that the continual signing of manifestoes and protests is one of the surest ways of undermining the efficacy and dignity of the intellectual. There exists a permanent blackmail that we all know and that we must have the often solitary courage to resist.

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

I can feel this heart inside me and I conclude it exists. I can touch this world and I also conclude that it exists. All my knowledge ends at this point. The rest is hypothesis.

I am not made for politics because I am incapable of wanting or accepting the death of the adversary.

They knew now that if there is one thing one can always yearn for, and sometimes attain, it is human love.