We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself.

Better beware of notions like genius and inspiration; they are a sort of magic wand and should be used sparingly by anybody who wants to see things clearly.

Life is an operation which is done in a forward direction. One lives toward the future, because to live consists inexorably in doing, in each individual life making itself.

With morality we correct the mistakes of our instincts, and with love we correct the mistakes of our morals.

We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but he does not know what to create.

The tapestry of history that seems so full of tragedy when viewed from the front has countless comic scenes woven into its reverse side. In truth, tragedy and comedy are the twin masks of history - its mass appeal.

We need to study the whole of history, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.