Irony is a qualification of subjectivity.

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.

Whoever has the world's treasures has them no matter how he got them. In the world of the spirit it is otherwise.

I feel as if I were a piece in a game of chess, when my opponent says of it: That piece cannot be moved.

And this is one of the most crucial definitions for the whole of Christianity; that the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith.

If I had a humble spirit in my service who, when I asked for a glass of water, brought me the world's costliest wines blended in a chalice, I should dismiss him, in order to teach him that my pleasure consists, not in what I enjoy, but in having my own way.

Love believes all things and yet is never deceived.