The paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life and just as only great souls are exposed to passions it is only the great thinker who is exposed to what I call paradoxes, which are nothing else than grandiose thoughts in embryo.

What is existence for but to be laughed at if men in their twenties have already attained the utmost?

Boredom rests upon the nothingness that winds its way through existence; its giddiness, like that which comes from gazing down into an infinite abyss, is infinite.

To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.

Human relations are like the irregular verbs in a number of languages where nearly all verbs are irregular.

Most people live dejectedly in worldly joys or sorrows. They sit on the sidelines and do not join the dance.

It was not to save a nation that Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, nor to appease angry gods... Then why does Abraham do it? For God's sake... He does it for the sake of God because God demands proof of his faith... He was not justified by being virtuous, but by being an individual submitted to God in faith.