A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes-within the limits of endowment and environment-he has made out of himself.

Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death.

Sleep [is like] a dove which has landed near one's hand and stays there as long as one does not pay any attention to it.

Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.

Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary.

Austrian public-opinion pollsters recently reported that those held in highest esteem by most of the people interviewed are neither the great artists nor the great scientists, neither the great statesmen nor the great sport figures, but those who master a hard lot with their heads held high.

A life of short duration...could be so rich in joy and love that it could contain more meaning than a life lasting eighty years.