Generally speaking, violence always arises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power.

Legitimacy, when challenged, bases itself on an appeal to the past, while justification relates to an end that lies in the future. Violence can be justifiable, but it never will be legitimate.

Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one single deed from which we could never recover; we would remain the victims of its consequences forever.

When an old truth ceases to be applicable, it does not become any truer by being stood on its head.

Generally speaking, violence always arises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power.

The human condition comprehends more than the condition under which life has been given to man. Men are conditioned beings because everything they come in contact with turns immediately into a condition of their existence. The world in which the vita activa spends itself consists of things produced by human activities; but the things that owe their existence exclusively to men nevertheless constantly condition their human makers.

The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.