It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the world--and if she does not intend to, she may as well perish--she must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France.

In what concerns divine things, belief is not appropriate. Only certainty will do. Anything less than certainty is unworthy of God.

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

The highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest.

If someone does me injury I must desire that this injury shall not degrade me. I must desire this out of love for him who inflicts it, in order that he may not really have done evil.

The whole of our civilization is founded on specialization, which implies the enslavement of those who execute to those who coordinate.

Everything beautiful has a mark of eternity.