In order to swim one takes off all one's clothes--in order to aspire to the truth one must undress in a far more inward sense, divest oneself of all one's inward clothes, of thoughts, conceptions, selfishness etc., before one is sufficiently naked.

Only one deception is possible in the infinite sense, self-deception.

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

The thing is to understand myself: the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die. That is what I now recognize as the most important thing.

If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe. If I wish to preserve myself in faith I must constantly be intent upon holding fast the objective uncertainty so as to remain out upon the deep, over seventy thousand fathoms of water, still preserving my faith.

Why I so much prefer autumn to spring is that in the autumn one looks at heaven--in the spring at the earth.

The reign of the tyrant ends with his death, and the reign of the martyr starts with it.