We cannot consent to be judged by someone who has suffered less than ourselves. And since each of us regards himself as an unrecognized Job.

The more intense a spiritual leader's appetite for power, the more he is concerned to limit it to others.

In every man sleeps a prophet, and when he wakes there is a little more evil in the world.

To accomplish nothing and die of the strain

Only optimists commit suicide, optimists who no longer succeed at being optimists. The others, having no reason to live, why would they have any to die?

I don’t understand why we must do things in this world, why we must have friends and aspirations, hopes and dreams. Wouldn’t it be better to retreat to a faraway corner of the world, where all its noise and complications would be heard no more? Then we could renounce culture and ambitions; we would lose everything and gain nothing; for what is there to be gained from this world?

Beware of thinkers whose minds function only when they are fueled by a quotation.