Again and again I am brought up against it, and again and again I resist it: I don't want to believe it, even though it is almost palpable: the vast majority lack an intellectual conscience; indeed, it often seems to me that to demand such a thing is to be in the most populous cities as solitary as in the desert.

He who rejoices even at the stake triumphs not over pain but over the absence of pain where he had anticipated feeling it. A parable.

Hold a true friend with both your hands.

One who dresses in rags that have been washed clean dresses cleanly to be sure, but raggedly nonetheless.

What was formerly merely sickly now becomes indecent : it is indecent to be a Christian today.

Children from humble families must be taught how to command just as other children must be taught how to obey.

That lies should be necessary to life is part and parcel of the terrible and questionable character of existence.