The purpose of philosophers is to show people what is right under their noses.

It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living.

The beginning of thought is in disagreement - not only with others but also with ourselves.

Without a sense of proportion there can be neither good taste nor genuine intelligence, nor perhaps moral integrity.

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.

The world leans on us. When we sag, the whole world seems to droop.

We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs subordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.