There's a great fear of the imagination. It's a dangerous thing. It's out of control, it's subversive.

A child free from the guilt of ownership and the burden of economic competition will grow up with the will to do what needs doing and the capacity for joy in doing it. It is useless work that darkens the heart. The delight of the nursing mother, of the scholar, of the successful hunter, of the good cook, of the skilful maker, of anyone doing needed work and doing it well, - this durable joy is perhaps the deepest source of human affection and of sociality as a whole.

Belief in the lie is the life of the lie.

Anyhow they’re always exceptions. But most women, their only relationship to a man is having. Either owning or being owned.

What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one musn't make a virtue of it, or a profession...Insofar as I love life, I love [my country], but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate. And beyond that, I am ignorant, I hope.

True understanding is the spur of genius

To be oneself is a rare thing, and a great one.