Hitherto man had to live with the idea of death as an individual; from now onward mankind will have to live with the idea of its death as a species.

The cell door slammed behind Rubishov.

To sell oneself for thirty pieces of silver is an honest transaction; but to sell oneself to one s own conscience is to abandon mankind.

Adolescence is a kind of emotional seasickness. Both are funny, but only in retrospect.

History knows no scruples and no hesitation. Inert and unnering flows towards her goal. History knows herway. She makes no mistakes.

Two half truths do not make a truth.

Every creative act – in science, art, or religion – involves a regression to a more primitive level, a new innocence of perception liberated from the cataract of accepted beliefs.