But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises, and precious metal in the dirt.

Let us first fulfill Christ's injunction ourselves and only then venture to expect it of our children. Otherwise we are not fathers, but enemies of our children, and they are not our children, but our enemies, and we have made them our enemies ourselves.

If there is no God, then I am God.

For all is like an ocean, all flows and connects; touch it in one place and it echoes at the other end of the world.

But what can a decent man speak of with most pleasure? Answer: Of himself. Well, so I will talk about myself.

... active love is a harsh and fearful thing compared with the love in dreams. Love in dreams thirsts for immediate action, quickly performed, and with everyone watching. Indeed, it will go as far as the giving even of one's life, provided it does not take long but is soon over, as on stage, and eveyone is looking on and praising. Whereas active love is labor and persistence, and for some people, perhaps, a whole science.

It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them — the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas.