Never have the young taken themselves so seriously, and the calamity is that they are listened to and deferred to by so many adults.

Imitation is often a shortcut to a solution. We copy when we lack the inclination, the ability or the time to work out an independent solution. People in a hurry will imitate more readily than people at leisure. Hustling thus tends to produce uniformity. And in the deliberate fusing of individuals into a compact group, incessant action will play a considerable role.

It is startling to see how the oppressed almost invariably shape themselves in the image of their hated oppressors.

It is the pull of opposite poles that stretches souls. And only stretched souls make music.

Our quarrel with the world is an echo of the endless quarrel proceeding within us.

Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength.

The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness. The remarkable thing is that the cessation of the inner dialogue marks also the end of our concern with the world around us. It is as if we noted the world and think about it only when we have to report it to ourselves.