Ancient and oriental civilizations were more sensitive than we are to the cycles of things; to the succession of generations, both divine and human; and to change within stasis. Western man is virtually alone in wanting to make his God into a fortress and personal immortality into a bulwark against time.

To stay in one place and watch the seasons come and go is tanatmount to constant travel: One is traveling with the earth.

For my part I have sought liberty more than power, and power only because it can lead to freedom. What interested me was not a philosophy of the free man (all who try that have proved tiresome), but a technique: I hoped to discover the hinge where our will meets and moves with destiny, and where discipline strengthens, instead of restraining, our nature.

Books are not life, only its ashes.

Love is a punishment. We are punished for not having been strong enough to remain alone.

Any truth creates a scandal.

A being afire with life cannot foresee death; in fact, by each of his deeds he denies that death exists.