Fear is the mind-killer.

Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

There is in each of us an ancient force that takes and an ancient force that gives. A man finds little difficulty facing that place within himself where the taking force dwells, but it's almost impossible for him to see into the giving force without changing into something other than man. For a woman, the situation is reversed. ... These things are so ancient within us that they're ground into each separate cell of our bodies... It's as easy to be overwhelmed by giving as by taking.

To come under siege was the inevitable fate of power.

Since every individual is accountable ultimately to the self, the formation of that self demands our utmost care and attention.

Life is a mask through which the universe expresses itself.

The unclouded eye was better, no matter what it saw.