The self-despisers are less intent on their own increase than on the diminution of others. Where self-esteem is unobtainable, envy takes the place of greed.

The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it.

If a society is to preserve stability and a degree of continuity, it must learn how to keep its adolescents from imposing their tastes, values, and fantasies on everyday life.

A passionate obsession with the outside world or the private lives of others is an attempt to compensate for a lack of meaning in one's own life

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

To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint.

I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind.