I am strongly convinced that not only too much consciousness but even any consciousness at all is a sickness.

Man is a pliable animal, a being who gets accustomed to everything!

Every decent man of our age must be a coward and a slave. That is his normal condition. Of that I am firmly persuaded. He is made and constructed to that very end. And not only at the present time owing to some casual circumstance, but always, at all times, a decent man is bound to be a coward and a slave.

You are told a lot about your education, but some beautiful, sacred memory, preserved since childhood, is perhaps the best education of all. If a man carries many such memories into life with him, he is saved for the rest of his days. And even if only one good memory is left in our hearts, it may also be the instrument of our salvation one day.

With old liars who have been acting all their lives there are moments when they enter so completely into their part that they tremble or shed tears in earnest, although at that very moment, or a second later, they are able to whisper to themselves, "You know you are lying, you shameless old sinner! You're acting now, in spite of your 'holy' wrath.

Although your mind works, your heart is darkened with depravity; and without a pure heart there can be no complete and true consciousness

It's in despair that you find the sharpest pleasures, particularly when you are most acutely aware of the hopelessness of your position.