These are the fifties, you know. The disgusting, posturing fifties.

Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together. When we say of somebody that he is 'in power' we actually refer to his being empowered by a certain number of people to act in their name. The moment the group, from which the power originated to begin with ... disappears, 'his power' also vanishes.

Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible.

Thinking does not lead to truth; truth is the beginning of thought.

With the rise of Christianity, faith replaced thought as the bringer of immortality.

There will always be One against All, one person against all others. [This is so] not because One is terribly wise and All are terribly foolish, but because the process of thinking and researching, which finally yields truth, can only be accomplished by an individual person. In its singularity or duality, one human being seeks and finds – not the truth (Lessing) –, but some truth.

Courage is indispensible because in politics not life but the world is at stake.