For a country to have a great writer is to have another government.

A human being is all hope and impatience.

When we feel that we are not sufficiently respected, we should ask ourselves whether we are living as we should.

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

Justness exists, even if few people exist who feel it.

Literature that is not the breath of contemporary society, that dares not transmit the pains and fears of that society . . . loses the confidence of its own people, and its published works are used as wastepaper instead of being read.

Good or evil-you cannot build your life apart from this distinction.