The passion to get ahead is sometimes born of the fear lest we be left behind.

The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.

The difficult and risky task of meeting and mastering the new . . . is not undertaken by the vanguard of society but by its rear. It is the misfits, failures, fugitives, outcasts and their like who are among the first to grapple with the new.

There is nothing more explosive than a skilled population condemned to inaction. Such a population is likely to become a hotbed of extremism and intolerance, and be receptive to any proselytizing ideology, however absurd and vicious, which promises vast action.

Vaguely at first, then more distinctly, I realized that man is an eternal stranger on this planet.

It is always safe to assume that people are more subtle and less sensitive than they seem.

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