Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us - by obligations, not by rights. Noblesse oblige. 'To live as one likes is plebeian; the noble man aspires to order and law.'

Life is a series of collisions with the future.

Whoever has not felt the danger of our times palpitating under his hand, has not really penetrated to the vitals of destiny, he has merely pricked the surface.

Our firmest convictions are apt to be the most suspect; they mark our limitations and our bounds. Life is a petty thing unless it is moved by the indomitable urge to extend its boundaries.

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

The preoccupation with what should be is estimable only when the respect for what is has been exhausted.

To live is to feel oneself lost.