The founder brought the laws from the lawgiver; the faithful are meant to announce the laws to the lawgiver.

But eternity is not temporality at a standstill. What is oppressive about the concept of the eternal is the justification, incomprehensible to us, that time must undergo in eternity and the logical conclusion of that, the justification of ourselves as we are.

You are at once both the quiet and the confusion of my heart.

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

Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.

My grandfather used to say: Life is astoundingly short. To me, looking back over it, life seems so foreshortened that I scarcely understand, for instance, how a young man can decide to ride over to the next village without being afraid that -not to mention accidents- even the span of a normal happy life may fall far short of the time needed for such a journey.

This noble body, equipped with everything necessary, almost to the point of bursting, also appeared to carry freedom around with it.