We are sinful not only because we have eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, but also because we have not yet eaten of the Tree of Life. The state in which we are is sinful, irrespective of guilt.

This perversion of the truth, familiar to the artist though it was, always unnerved him afresh and proved too much for him. What was a consequence of the premature ending of his fast was here presented as the cause of it! To fight against this lack of understanding, against a whole world of nonunderstanding, was impossible.

Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within.

It is only our conception of time that makes us call the Last Judgement by this name. It is, in fact, a kind of martial law.

I can once more carry on a conversation with myself, and don't stare so into complete emptiness. Only in this way is there any possibility of improvement for me.

Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.

If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read it?