Literature in its most comprehensive sense is the autobiography of humanity.

From childhood on I have had the dream of life lived as a sacrament... the dream implied taking life ritually as something holy.

The Renaissance had resulted in the emancipation of the individual, in making him feel that the universe had no other purpose than his happiness. This brought an entirely new answer to the question, 'Why should I do this or that?' It used to be, 'Because self-instituted authority command you.' The answer now was, 'Because it is good for men.' In this lies our greatest debt to the Renaissance, that it instituted the welfare of men as the end of all action.

The average European does not seem to feel free until he succeeds in enslaving and oppressing others.

Not what man knows but what man feels, concerns art. All else is science.

Life has taught me that it is not for our faults that we are disliked and even hated, but for our qualities.

Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.