It is not enough to invent new machines, new regulations, or new institutions. We must understand differently and more perfectly the true purpose of our existence on this earth.

Sometimes I wonder if suicides aren't in fact sad guardians of the meaning of life.

I personally think President [Hosni] Mubarak, who's done a lot for Egypt, should acknowledge that his time has come and step down right away.

Hope is not a feeling of certainty that everything ends well. Hope is just a feeling that life and work have a meaning.

Isn't it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity.

Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of external peace.

The truth is not simply what you think it is; it is also the circumstances in which it is said, and to whom, why, and how it is said.