Never to have occasion to take a position, to make up one's mind, or to define oneself - there is no wish I make more often.

All that shimmers on the surface of the world, all that we call interesting, is the fruit of ignorance and inebriation.

I have no nationality - the best possible status for an intellectual.

The premonition of madness is complicated by the fear of lucidity in madness, the fear of the moments of return and reunion... One would welcome chaos if one were not afraid of lights in it.

Each of us is born with a share of purity, predestined to be corrupted by our commerce with mankind, by that sin against solitude.

A marvel that has nothing to offer, democracy is at once a nation's paradise and its tomb.

The fanatic is incorruptible: if he kills for an idea, he can just as well get himself killed for one; in either case, tyrant or martyr, he is a monster.