The difference between Socrates and Jesus is that no one had ever been put to death in Socrates' name. And that is because Socrates' ideas were never made law. Law, in whatever name, protects privilege.

It was evident to him that the world composed and recomposed itself constantly in an endless process of dissatisfaction.

Children have a lot more to worry about from the parents who raised them than from the books they read.

And so the ordinary unendurable torments we all experienced were indeed exceptional in the way they were absorbed in each heart.

Most people are quiet in the world, and live in it tentatively, as if it were not their own.

Things that appear on the front page of the newspaper as 'fact' are far more dangerous than the games played by a novelist, and can lead to wars.

I am telling you what I know—words have music and if you are a musician you will write to hear them.