Dogmatic theological statements are neither logical propositions nor poetic utterances. They are ''shaggy dog'' stories; they have a point, but he who tries too hard to get it will miss it.

The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have not yet developed a significant profile of their own.

Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be.

Desire, even in its wildest tantrums, can neither persuade me it is love nor stop me from wishing it were.

Even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life

You must go to bed with friends or whores, where money makes up the difference in beauty or desire.

Every man carries with him through life a mirror, as unique and impossible to get rid of as his shadow.