My scholarly expectation is then that I may succeed in becoming clever in philosophy in spite of my stupidity.

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

To the frivolous Christianity is certainly not glad tidings, for it wishes first of all to make them serious.

When you say 'Yes' or promise something, you can very easily deceive yourself and others also, as if you had already done what you promised. It is easy to think that by making a promise you have at least done part of what you promised to do, as if the promise itself were something of value. Not at all! In fact, when you do not do what you promise, it is a long way back to the truth.

It will be easy for us the first time we receive that ball of yarn from Ariadne (love) and then go through all the mazes of the labyrinth (life) and kill the monster. But how many there are who plunge into life (the labyrinth) without taking that precaution?

My tactics were, by God's aid, to employ every means to make it clear what the requirement of Christianity truly is.

Dread is a sympathetic antipathy and an antipathetic sympathy.