And, indeed, I will at this point ask an idle question on my own account: which is better — cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?

Who doesn't desire his fathers death?

But gamblers know how a man can sit for almost twenty-four hours at cards, without looking to right, or to left.

Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.

Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it ... one must have the courage to dare.

Totally without hope one cannot live. To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness. It is no accident that above the entrance to Dante's hell is the inscription: "Leave behind all hope, you who enter here."

The fear of appearances is the first symptom of impotence.