There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.

Silence is the demon's trap, and the more one is silenced, the more terrible the demon; but silence is also the divinity's mutual understanding with the single individual.

...the person who surrenders absolutely to God, with no reservations, is absolutely safe. From this safe hiding-place he can see the devil , but the devil cannot see him.

Knowledge of the truth I may perhaps have attained to; happiness certainly not. What shall I do? Accomplish something in the world, men tell me. Shall I then publish my grief to the world, contribute one more proof for the wretchedness and misery of existence, perhaps discover a new flaw in human life, hitherto unnoticed? I might then reap the rare reward of becoming famous, like the man who discovered the spots on Jupiter. I prefer, however, to keep silent.

Are you not aware that there comes a midnight hour when everyone must unmask...

Once you are born in this world you’re old enough to die.

Christians remind me of schoolboys who want to look up the answers to their math problems in the back of the book rather than work them through.