For, to be a stranger is naturally a very positive relation; it is a specific form of interaction.

Secrecy involves a tension which, at the moment of revelation, finds its release.

Discretion is nothing other than the sense of justice with respect to the sphere of the intimate contents of life.

The first internal relation that is essential to a secret society is the reciprocal confidence of its members.

Nothing more can be attempted than to establish the beginning and the direction of an infinitely long road. The pretension of any systematic and definitive completeness would be, at least, a self-illusion. Perfection can here be obtained by the individual student only in the subjective sense that he communicates everything he has been able to see.

Judging from the ugly and repugnant things that are sometimes in vogue, it would seem as though fashion were desirous of exhibiting its power by getting us to adopt the most atrocious things for its sake alone.

The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.