The advocates of a criminal are seldom artists enough to turn the beautiful terribleness of the deed to the advantage of the doer.

When anyone apologizes to us he has to do it very expertly: otherwise we might easily come to see ourselves as the guilty party and experience unpleasant feelings.

And so do you suppose it must be a piece-work because it has been given to you (and could only be given to you) in pieces?

It may be that until now there has been no more potent means for beautifying man himself than piety: it can turn man into so much art, surface, play of colors, graciousness that his sight no longer makes one suffer.---

Christianity is called the religion of pity.

How can anyone become a thinker unless he spends at least a third of every day away from passions, people, and books?

When we have a great goal we are superior even to justice, not merely to our deeds and our judges.