humor can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle

The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God's paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle - and not lose it.

There'd be a lot less scandal if people didn't idealize sin and pose as sinners.

How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win.

In the fairy tale, an incomprehensible happiness rests upon an incomprehensible condition. A box is opened and all evils fly out. A word is forgotten and cities perish. A lamp is lit and love flies away. An apple is eaten and the hope of God is gone.

In matters of truth the fact that you don't want to publish something is, nine times out of ten, a proof that you ought to publish it.

There are no new lies, no new heresies. Man is simply not that creative.