The history of the world, as it is written and handed down by word of mouth, often fails us completely; but man's intuitive capacity, though it often misleads, does lead, does not ever abandon one.

If it had been possible to build the Tower of Babel without climbing it, it would have been permitted.

Always first draw fresh breath after outbursts of vanity and complacency.

I have hardly anything in common with myself and should stand very quietly in a corner, content that I can breathe.

Writing sustains me. But wouldn’t it be better to say it sustains this kind of life? Which doesn't mean life is any better when I don’t write. On the contrary, it is far worse, wholly unbearable, and inevitably ends in madness. This is, of course, only on the assumption that I am a writer even when I don’t write - which is indeed the case; and a non-writing writer is, in fact, a monster courting insanity.

Suffering is the positive element in this world, indeed it is the only link between this world and the positive.

We live in an age which is so possessed by demons, that soon we shall only be able to do goodness and justice in the deepest secrecy, as if it were a crime.