To die in agony upon a cross Does not create a martyr; he must first Will his own execution.

It is the very mark of the spirit of rebellion to crave for happiness in this life

The old terms must be invented with new meaning and given new explanations. Liberty, equality, and fraternity are no longer what they were in the days of the late-lamented guillotine. This is what the politicians will not understand; and that is why I hate them. They want only their own special revolutions- external revolutions, political revolutions, etc. But that is only dabbling. What is really needed is a revolution of the human spirit.

Writing has... been to me like a bath from which I have risen feeling cleaner, healthier, and freer.

This is life! It can harden and it can exalt!

There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.

But I almost think we are all of us ghosts. It is not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that “walks” in us. It is all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us all the same, and we cannot shake them off. Whenever I take up a newspaper, I seem to see ghosts gliding between the lines.