Dull minds are never either intuitive or mathematical.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it.

The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.

If we do not know ourselves to be full of pride, ambition, lust, weakness, misery, and injustice, we are indeed blind. And if, knowing this, we do not desire deliverance, what can we say of a man...?

We must keep our thought secret, and judge everything by it, while talking like the people.

Lust is the source of all our actions, and humanity.

To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.

Δύο υπερβολές : ν' αποκλείουμε το Λόγο, και να μη δεχόμαστε παρά μόνο το Λόγο.

There are three sources of belief: reason, custom, inspiration.

No religion except ours has taught that man is born in sin none of the philosophical sects has admitted it none therefore has spoken the truth

I try not to make plans. God always laughs at your plans. I’m going to keep the door open, and keep the page blank, and see what gets painted upon it.

The silence was pregnant with noise, with muted fury, with questions the father found too disgusting to frame and with answers to which the son was incapable of giving voice.

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. pg 29

There is a world which I alone rule, but it ends at my fingertips.

To do nothing and get something, formed a boy's ideal of a manly career.

The only way to be totally free is through education.

My roots are Scottish. My dad's parents are from Scotland, and my mum's dad is Scots.

Now, five years is nothing in a man's life except when he is very young and very old... - Wang Lung

A gift without a heart behind it is a bribe. God asks for our heart, not our gifts.

...And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need is here.