True knowledge is knowledge of why things are as they are, and not merely what they are.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing completely straight was ever made

Liberty and equality, spontaneity and security, happiness and knowledge, mercy and justice - all these are ultimate human values, sought for themselves alone; yet when they are incompatible, they cannot all be attained, choices must be made, sometimes tragic losses accepted in the pursuit of some preferred ultimate end.

One belief, more than any other, is responsible for the slaughter of individuals on the alter of the great historical ideas - justice or progress or happiness of future generations... or emancipation of a nation or race or class... this is the belief that somewhere... there is a final solution.

Science cannot destroy the consciousness of freedom, without which there is no morality and no art, but it can refute it.

The underlying assumption that human nature is basically the same at all times, everywhere, and obeys eternal laws beyond human control, is a conception that only a handful of bold thinkers have dared to question.

We are doomed to choose and every choice may entail irreparable loss.