Consistency is a virtue for trains: what we want from a philosopher is insights, whether he comes by them consistently or not.

Dictatorship is a constant lecture instructing you that your feelings, your thoughts and desires are of no account, that you are a nobody and must live as you are told by other people who desire and think for you

You tell me your favorite novelists and I'll tell you whom you vote for, or whether you vote at all.

Like all wage slaves, he had two crosses to bear: the people he worked for and the people he worked with

The only virtue a character needs to possess between hardcovers, even if he bears a real person's name, is vitality: if he comes to life in our imaginations, he passes the test.

The truth is that our race survived ignorance; it is our scientific genius that will do us in.

When you close your eyes to tragedy, you close your eyes to greatness.