... let us recall the well-known statement of a university professor in the Republic of the Massagetes: 'Not the faculty but His Excellency the General can properly determine the sum of two and two.'

It is not for me to judge another man's life. I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself. For myself, alone.

When a writer receives praise or blame, when he arouses sympathy or is ridiculed, when he is loved or rejected, it is not on the strength of his thoughts and dreams as a whole, but only of that infinitesimal part which has been able to make its way through the narrow channel of language and the equally narrow channel of the reader's understanding.

The voices of all creatures are in the voices of the river.

I hope death will be a great happiness, a happiness as great as that of love, fulfilled love

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

It was still quiet in the house, and not a sound was heard from outside, either. Were it not for this silence, my reverie would probably have been disrupted by reminders of daily duties, of getting up and going to school.