madness, in a higher sense, is the beginning of all wisdom

I cannot tell my story without reaching a long way back.

There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge - that is everywhere.

Thus Gotama [Buddha] walked toward the town to gather alms, and the two samanas recognized him solely by the perfection of his repose, by the calmness of his figure, in which there was no trace of seeking, desiring, imitating, or striving, only light and peace

I have no desire to walk on water," said Siddhartha. "Let the old shamans satisfy themselves with such skills".

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.

When you like someone, you like them in spite of their faults. When you love someone, you love them with their faults.