All leaders strive to turn their followers into children.

We can remember minutely and precisely only the things which never really happened to us.

In running away from ourselves we either fall on our neighbor's shoulder or fly at his throat.

The link between ideas and action is rarely direct. There is almost always an intermediate step in which the idea is overcome.

There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgment.

Action can give us the feeling of being useful, but only words can give us a sense of weight and purpose.

Practically all writers and artists are aware of their destiny and see themselves as actors in a fateful drama. With me, nothing is momentous: obscure youth, glorious old age, fateful coincidences - nothing really matters. I have written a number of good sentences. I have kept free of delusions. I know I am going to die soon.