Nothing is so wearing as the possession or abuse of liberty.

I'm simply an accident. Why take it all so seriously?

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

Just as ecstasy purifies you of the particular and the contingent, leaving nothing except light and darkness, so insomnia kills off the multiplicity and diversity of the world, leaving you prey to your private obsessions.

If we manage to last in spite of everything, it is because our infirmities are so many and so contradictory that they cancel each other out.

What every man who loves his country hopes for in his inmost heart: the suppression of half his compatriots.

Tolerance - the function of an extinguished ardor - tolerance cannot seduce the young.