The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets.

It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion. Our ears, it seems, are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men.

We find it hard to apply the knowledge of ourselves to our judgment of others. The fact that we are never of one kind, that we never love without reservations and never hate with all our being cannot prevent us from seeing others as wholly black or white.

It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.

The hardest thing to cope with is not selfishness or vanity or deceitfulness, but sheer stupidity.

Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know.

Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul.