With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the eyes of others only a reflection of themselves.

One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. Irrationality often manifests itself in upholding the word against the evidence of the eyes. Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard.

Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right. He is missing that wonderful feeling of trust in someone or something.

The real Antichrist is he who turns the wine of an original idea into the water of mediocrity.

Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.

Marriage has for women many equivalents of joining a mass movement. It offers them a new purpose in life, a new future and a new identity (a new name). The boredom of spinsters and of women who can no longer find joy and fulfillment in marriage stems from an awareness of a barren, spoiled life. By embracing a holy cause and dedicating their energies and substance to its advancement, they find a new life full of purpose and meaning.

We do not usually look for allies when we love. Indeed, we often look on those who love with us as rivals and trespassers. But we always look for allies when we hate.