The physical body is an agent of the spirit and its mirror. It is an engine and a reflection of the spirit. It is the spirit's ingenious memorandum to itself and the spirit sees itself in my body, just as I see my own face in a looking glass. My nerves reflect this. The earth is literally a mirror of thoughts. Objects themselves are embodied thoughts. Death is the dark backing that a mirror needs if we are to see anything.

A person either creates or destroys. There is no neutrality.

The challenge of modern freedom, or the combination of isolation and freedom which confronts you, is to make yourself up. The danger is that you may emerge from the process as a not-entirely-human creature. (Referenced in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young)

With a novelist, like a surgeon, you have to get a feeling that you've fallen into good hands - someone from whom you can accept the anesthetic with confidence.

It's no disgrace to be a private, you know. Socrates was a plain foot soldier, a hoplite.

I am more stupid about some things than others; not equally stupid in all directions; I am not a well-rounded person.

Humankind struggles with collective powers for its freedom, the individual struggles with dehumanization for the possession of his soul.