One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die. This life appears unbearable, another unattainable. One is no longer ashamed of wanting to die; one asks to be moved from the old cell, which one hates, to a new one, which one willl only in time come to hate. In this there is also a residue of belief that during the move the master will chance to come along the corridor, look at the prisoner and say: "This man is not to be locked up again, He is to come with me.

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.

Logic may indeed be unshakeable, but it cannot withstand a man who is determined to live.

Self-control means wanting to be effective at some random point in the infinite radiations of my spiritual existence.

There are some things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the opposite direction.

I never imagined that so many days would ultimately make such a small life.

People label themselves with all sorts of adjectives. I can only pronounce myself as 'nauseatingly miserable beyond repair'.