On reaching a certain degree of pain we lose the world.

One does not play Bach without having done scales. But neither does one play a scale merely for the sake of the scale.

One should identify oneself with the universe itself. Everything that is less than the universe is subjected to suffering.

A man whose mind feels that it is captive would prefer to blind himself to the fact. But if he hates falsehood, he will not do so; and in that case he will have to suffer a lot. He will beat his head against the wall until he faints. He will come to again

More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.

We must love all facts, not for their consequences, but because in each fact God is there present.

The real stumbling-block of totalitarian regimes is not the spiritual need of men for freedom of thought; it is men's inability to stand the physical and nervous strain of a permanent state of excitement, except during a few years of their youth.