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

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

What to think of other people? I ask myself this question each time I make a new acquaintance. So strange does it seem to me that we exist, and that we consent to exist.

Between the demand to be clear,and the temptation to be obscure, impossible to decide which deserves more respect.

The desire to die was my one and only concern; to it I have sacrificed everything, even death.

As far as I am concerned, I resign from humanity. I no longer want to be, nor can still be, a man. What should I do? Work for a social and political system, make a girl miserable? Hunt for weaknesses in philosophical systems, fight for moral and esthetic ideals? It’s all too little. I renounce my humanity even though I may find myself alone. But am I not already alone in this world from which I no longer expect anything?

Tragic paradox of freedom: the mediocre men who alone make its exercise possible cannot guarantee its duration.