Revolutions are the only political events which confront us directly and inevitably with the problem of beginning.

Politically, the weakness of the argument has always been that those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil.

The earth is the very quintessence of the human condition.

No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes.

... we have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their bundance. Whatever we do, we are supposed to do for the sake of "making a living;" such is the verdict of society, and the number of people, especially in the professions who might challenge it, has decreased rapidly. The only exception society is willing to grant is to the artist, who, strictly speaking, is the only "worker" left in a laboring society.

The new always happens against the overwhelming odds of statistical laws and their probability, which for all practical, everyday purposes amounts to certainty; the new therefore always appears in the guise of a miracle.

The true dividing line between people is whether they are capable of being in love with their destiny.