Not death itself, but only the moral preparation for it, holds terrors.

Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.

A forest doesn't weep over one tree.

... but it is human to be outraged by injustice, even to the point of courting destruction!

This deliberately nurtured hatred then spreads to all that is alive, to life itself, to the world with its colors, sounds, and shapes, to the human body. The embittered art of the twentieth century is perishing as a result of this ugly hate, for art is fruitless without love. In the East art has collapsed because it has been knocked down and trampled upon, but in the West the fall has been voluntary, a decline into a contrived and pretentious quest where the artist, instead of attempting to reveal the divine plan, tries to put himself in the place of God.

I insist on believing that beauty elevates human beings.

Patriotism means unqualified and unwavering love for the nation, which implies not uncritical eagerness to serve, not support for unjust claims, but frank assessment of its vices and sins, and penitence for them.