Absurd, irreducible; nothing — not even a profound and secret delirium of nature — could explain it. Obviously I did not know everything, I had not seen the seeds sprout, or the tree grow. But faced with this great wrinkled paw, neither ignorance nor knowledge was important: the world of explanations and reasons is not the world of existence. A circle is not absurd, it is clearly explained by the rotation of a straight segment around one of its extremities. But neither does a circle exist. This root, on the other hand, existed in such a way that I could not explain it.

Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.

We do not wish to say only that a man is responsible for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for that of all men.

So long as one believes in God, one has the right to do the Good in order to be moral.

You must be afraid, my son. That is how one becomes an honest citizen.

Atheism is a cruel long term business, and I have gone through it to the end.

Because the Nazi venom worked its way even into our thoughts, every accurate thought was a conquest; because an all-powerful police sought to force us into silence every word became as precious as a declaration of principle; because we were persecuted, each of our gestures carried the weight of a commitment.