You could tell a lot about a man by the books he keeps - his tastes, his interest, his habits.

To perceive the aura of an object we look at means to invest it with the ability to look at us in return.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

Allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things.

The destructive character knows only one watchword: make room. And only one activity: clearing away. The destructive character is young and cheerful. For destroying rejuvenates, because it clears away the traces of our own age; it cheers, because everything cleared away means to the destroyer a complete reduction, indeed a rooting out, of his own condition.

All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.

To a book collector, you see, the true freedom of all books is somewhere on his shelves.