Man cannot be free if he does not know that he is subject to necessity, because his freedom is always won in his never wholly successful attempts to liberate himself from necessity.

It is in the very nature of things human that every act that has once made its appearance and has been recorded in the history of mankind stays with mankind as a potentiality long after its actuality has become a thing of the past.

I'm more than ever of the opinion that a decent human existence is possible today only on the fringes of society, where one then runs the risk of starving or being stoned to death. In these circumstances, a sense of humor is a great help.

A theology which is not based on revelation as a given reality but treats God as an idea would be as mad as a zoology which is no longer sure of the physical, tangible existence of animals.

Total loyalty is possible only when fidelity is emptied of all concrete content, from which changes of mind might naturally arise.

The aim of totalitarian education has never been to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any.

What I cannot live with may not bother another man's conscience. The result is that conscience will stand against conscience.