To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning.

For what I always hated and detested and cursed above all things was this contentment, this healthiness and comfort, this carefully preserved optimism of the middle classes, this fat and prosperous brood of mediocrity.

Only within yourself exists that other reality for which you long.

What is the holding of breath? It is a flight from the Self, it is a temporary escape from the torment of Self. It is a temporary palliative against the pain and folly of life.

It was morning; through the high window I saw the pure, bright blue of the sky as it hovered cheerfully over the long roofs of the neighboring houses. It too seemed full of joy, as if it had special plans, and had put on its finest clothes for the occasion.

What he had not learned, however, was this: to find contentment in himself and his own life

How beautiful the world was when one looked at it, without searching... just looked, simply and innocently.