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

Atlas was permitted the opinion that he was at liberty, if he wished, to drop the Earth and creep away; but this opinion was all that he was permitted.

Writing [is] a form of prayer.

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.

If this is what you came for, then I didn't send for you. Kafka (note to himself in journal)

I need solitude for my writing; not 'like a hermit' - that wouldn't be enough - but like a dead man.

One of the most effective means of seduction that Evil has is the challenge to struggle. It is like the struggle with women, whichends in bed. A married man's true deviations from the path of virtue are, rightly understood, never gay.