A civilization is a heritage of beliefs, customs, and knowledge slowly accumulated in the course of centuries, elements difficult at times to justify by logic, but justifying themselves as paths when they lead somewhere, since they open up for man his inner distance.

We say nothing essential about the cathedral when we speak of its stones. We say nothing essential about Man when we seek to define him by the qualities of men.

But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you.

To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible.

When you want to build a ship, then do not drum the men together in order to procure wood, to give instructions or to distribute the work, but teach them longing for the wide endless sea.

Love does not cause suffering: what causes it is the sense of ownership, which is love's opposite.

If I were to command a general to turn into a seagull, and if the general did not obey, that would not be the general's fault. It would be mine.