To be free in an age like ours, one must be in a position of authority. That in itself would be enough to make me ambitious.

The greatest enemy of authority, therefore, is contempt, and the surest way to undermine it is laughter.

Economic growth may one day turn out to be a curse rather than a good, and under no conditions can it either lead into freedom or constitute a proof for its existence.

Exactly for the sake of what is new and revolutionary in every child, education must be conservative; it must preserve this newness and introduce it as a new thing into an old world.

Conscience is the anticipation of the fellow who awaits you if and when you come home.

Man's chief moral deficiency appears to be not his indiscretions but his reticence.

Equality...is the result of human organization. We are not born equal.