Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.

The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.

There is something else which has the power to awaken us to the truth. It is the works of writers of genius. They give us, in the guise of fiction, something equivalent to the actual density of the real, that density which life offers us every day but which we are unable to grasp because we are amusing ourselves with lies.

To claim that theft or adultery or lying are "evil" simply reflects our degraded idea of good-—that it has something to do with respect for property, respectability, and sincerity.

We possess nothing in the world - a mere chance can strip us of everything - except the power to say 'I.

Sin is nothing else but the failure to recognize human wretchedness.

Whoever is uprooted himself uproots others. Whoever is rooted himself doesn't uproot others.