We are not naïve enough to ask for pure men; we ask merely for men whose impurity does not conflict with the obligations of their job.

The least one can say of power is that a vocation for it is suspicious.

It may offend us to hear our own thoughts expressed by others: we are not sure enough of their souls.

It is horrible to see everything that one detested in the past coming back wearing the colors of the future.

One must either take an interest in the human situation or else parade before the void.

To say of men that they are bad is to say they are worse than we think we are, or worse than the ideal man whose image we have built up on the basis of a certain few.

There are moments when very little truth would be enough to shape opinion. One might be hated at extremely low cost.