I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

My ''fear''... is my substance, and probably the best part of me.

I can prove at any time that my education tried to make another person out of me than the one I became. It is for the harm, therefore, that my educators could have done me in accordance with their intentions that I reproach them; I demand from their hands the person I now am, and since they cannot give him to me, I make of my reproach and laughter a drumbeat sounding in the world beyond.

From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.

My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted.

You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.

May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air.

Life's splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come.

In theory there is a possibility of perfect happiness: To believe in the indestructible element within one, and not to strive towards it.

All human errors are impatience, a premature breaking off of methodical procedure, an apparent fencing-in of what is apparently at issue.