The truth is that no horizon is especially interesting by itself, by virtue of its peculiar content, and that any horizon, wide or narrow, brilliant or dull, varied or monotonous, may possess an interest of its own which merely requires a vital adjustment to be discovered.

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

The librarian's mission should be, not like up to now, a mere handling of the book as an object, but rather a know how (mise au point) of the book as a vital function.

The past will not tell us what we ought to do, but... what we ought to avoid.

The choice of a point of view is the initial act of a culture.

All we are given is possibilities — to make ourselves one thing or another.

I do not deny that there may be other well-founded causes for the hatred which various classes feel toward politicians, but the main one seems to me that politicians are symbols of the fact that every class must take every other class into account.