Every organization of men, be it social or political, ultimately relies on man's capacity for making promises and keeping them.

Our tradition of political thought had its definite beginning in the teachings of Plato and Aristotle. I believe it came to a no less definite end in the theories of Karl Marx.

Only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.

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

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

In order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism.

the public sphere is as consistently based on the law of equality as the private sphere is based on the law of universal difference and differentiation. Equality, in contrast to all that is involved in mere existence, is not given us, but is the result of human organization insofar as it is guided by the principle of justice. We are not born equal; we become equal as members of a group on the strength of our decision to guarantee ourselves mutually equal rights.