An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, his is also one who is permanently disappointed in the future.

Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.

Genealogy: A perverse preoccupation of those who seek to demonstrate that their forebears were better people than they are.

A person is either himself or not himself; is either rooted in his existence or is a fabrication; has either found his humanhood or is still playing with masks and roles and status symbols. And nobody is more aware of this difference (although unconsciously) than a child. Only an authentic person can evoke a good response in the core of the other person; only person is resonant to person.

Real loneliness consists not in being alone, but in being with the wrong person, in the suffocating darkness of a room in which no deep communication is possible.

Many people feel "guilty" about things they shouldn't feel guilty about, in order to shut out feelings of guilt about things they should feel guilty about.