All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

The good tidings which the historian of the past brings with throbbing heart may be lost in a void the very moment he opens his mouth.

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.

These are days when no one should rely unduly on his competence. Strength lies in improvisation. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.

We do not always proclaim loudly the most important thing we have to say. Nor do we always privately share it with those closest to us, our intimate friends, those who have been most devotedly ready to receive our confession.

Ideas are to objects as constellations are to stars [translated from Trauerspiel, 1928].

Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.