Here, then, is the point at which I see the new mission of the librarian rise up incomparably higher than all those preceding. Up until the present, the librarian has been principally occupied with the book as a thing, as a material object. From now on he must give his attention to the book as a living function. He must become a policeman, master of the raging book.

Abasement, degradation is simply the manner of life of the man who has refused to be what it is his duty to be.

Living is a constant process of deciding what we are going to do.

Biography - a system in which the contradictions of a human life are unified.

We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its urgency, 'here and now' without any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point-blank.

I am I plus my surroundings; and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself.

Hating someone is feeling irritation by their mere existence.