And I said to myself that unless you conceive Death to be a violent guerrilla and kidnaper who snatches those you love, and if you are not cowardly and cannot submit to such terrorism as civilized people now do in every department of life, you must pursue and inquire and explore every possibility and seek everywhere and try everything.

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.

...I am much better now at ambiguities.

The best argument is an undeniably good book.

I have begun in old age to understand...that we seldom if ever realize how generous we are to ourselves, and just how stingy with others.

You have to fight for your life. That's the chief condition on which you hold it.

I've never turned over a fig leaf yet that didn't have a price tag on the other side.