Some speak of the public as if it were someone with whom they have had dinner at the Leipzig Fair in the Hotel de Saxe. Who is this public? The public is not a thing, but rather an idea, a postulate, like the Church.

The need to raise itself above humanity is humanity's main characteristic.

Novels tend to end as the Paternoster begins: with the kingdom of God on earth.

How many authors are there among writers? Author means originator.

An artist is he who has his center within himself. He who lacks this must choose a particular leader and mediator outside of himself, not forever, however, but only at first. For man cannot exist without a living center, and if he does not have it within himself, he may seek it only in a human being. Only a human being and his center can stimulate and awaken that of another.

Women are treated as unjustly in poetry as in life. The feminine ones are not idealistic, and the idealistic not feminine.

Many a witty inspiration is like the surprising reunion of befriended thoughts after a long separation.