Decline of the letter, the rise of the notebook! One doesn't write to others any more; one writes to oneself.

Most people in this society who aren't actively mad are, at best, reformed or potential lunatics.

False values begin with the worship of things.

As one passion begins to fail it is necessary to form another, for the whole art of going through life tolerably is to keep oneself eager about anything.

Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech.

Fear binds people together. And fear disperses them. Courage inspires communities: the courage of an example - for courage is as contagious as fear. But courage, certain kinds of courage, can also isolate the brave.

art is the most general condition of the Past in the present. ... Perhaps no work of art is art. It can only become art, when it is part of the past. In this normative sense, a 'contemporary' work of art would be a contradiction - except so far as we can, in the present, assimilate the present to the past.