He is a free and secure citizen of the world because he is on a chain that is long enough to allow him access to all parts of the earth, and yet not so long that he could be swept over the edge of it.

The crows maintain that a single crow could destroy the heavens. There is no doubt of that, but it proves nothing against the heavens, for heaven simply means: the impossibility of crows.

Writing [is] a form of prayer.

Written kisses never arrive at their destination; the ghosts drink them up along the way.

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.

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.

Beyond a certain point there is no return. This point has to be reached.