Since Copernicus, man seems to have got himself on an inclined plane-now he is slipping faster and faster away from the center into-what? into nothingness? into a 'penetrating sense of his nothingness?' ... all science, natural as well as unnatural-which is what I call the self-critique of knowledge-has at present the object of dissuading man from his former respect for himself, as if this had been but a piece of bizarre conceit.

A book is made better by good readers and clearer by good opponents.

Life is an instinct for growth, for survival, for the accumulation of forces, for power.

The golden age, when rambunctious spirits were regarded as the source of evil.

What we do in dreams we also do when we are awake: we invent and fabricate the person with whom we associate - and immediately forget we have done so.

A matter that becomes clear ceases to concern us.

Help thyself: then everyone will help thee too. Principle of Christian charity.