I have committed the worst of sins one can commit... I have not been happy.

I have no personal system of philosophy. I never attempt to do that. I am merely a man of letters.

Captivated by its discipline, humanity forgets and goes on forgetting that it is the discipline of chess players, not of angels.

Any life, however long and complicated it may be, actually consists of a single moment — the moment when a man knows forever more who he is.

To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death; what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to know that one is immortal.

The machinery of the world is far too complex for the simplicity of men.

Many of the characters are fools and they're always playing tricks on me and treating me badly.