It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.

Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word "love" here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.

If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.

Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.

But, when the chips are down, its better to be furious with someone you love, or frightened for someone you love, than be put through the merciless horror of being ashamed of someone you love.

One day, to everyone’s astonishment, someone drops a match in the powder keg and everything blows up.

Hatred destroys the person who hates.