We rightly scorn those who have no made use of their defects, who have not exploited their deficiencies, and have not been enriched by their losses, as we despise any man who does not suffer at being a man or simply at being. Hence no graver insult can be inflicted than to call someone 'happy', no greater flattery than to grant him a 'vein of melancholy'... This is because gaiety is link to no important action and because, except for the mad, no one laughs when he is alone.

It is enough for me to hear someone talk sincerely about ideals, about the future, about philosophy, to hear him say “we" with a certain inflection of assurance, to hear him invoke "others" and regard himself as their interpreter - for me to consider him my enemy.

Only those moments count, when the desire to remain by yourself is so powerful that you'd prefer to blow your brains out than exchange a word with someone.

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

Is it possible that existence is our exile and nothingness our home?

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.

Philosophy: Impersonal anxiety; refuge among anemic ideas.