To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as he really is. It is by eliminating man from their equation that the makers of history can predict the future, and the writers of history can give a pattern to the past.

Mass movements do not usually rise until the prevailing order has been discredited.

We clamor for equality chiefly in matters in which we ourselves cannot hope to obtain excellence.

It takes a vice to check a vice, and virtue is the by-product of a stalemate between opposite vices.

Creativity is discontent translated into arts.

All mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. They do this by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it. The facts on which the true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his experience or observation but from holy writ.

Youth itself is a talent, a perishable talent.