I have no memory for things I have learned, nor things I have read, nor things experienced or heard, neither for people nor events; I feel that I have experienced nothing, learned nothing, that I actually know less than the average schoolboy, and that what I do know is superficial, and that every second question is beyond me. I am incapable of thinking deliberately; my thoughts run into a wall. I can grasp the essence of things in isolation, but I am quite incapable of coherent, unbroken thinking. I can't even tell a story properly; in fact, I can scarcely talk.

Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence... someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence, certainly never.

The Messiah will only come when he is no longer needed.

As far as I have seen, at school...they aimed at blotting out one's individuality.

First impressions are always unreliable.

My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted.

I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.