Great language and great literature do not survive long without each other

Fire can destroy or purify, strengthen or weaken, all depending on the nature of the material being burned. Pain has the same effects on the human soul, and for the same reasons.

I have never seen genius without a touch of madness... and vice versa.

Man is slow because he hesitates

There are few things more powerful than a name. A single phrase that somehow becomes a symbol for an entire existence.

I can imagine no heroism greater than motherhood.

Cowards are always much more dangerous than heroes.

When the road ahead seems impossible, start the engine

God gives us His spirit, while we give Him our bodies by fully submitting to Him and doing His will

If I am not for myself who will be?

People think that writing is writing, but actually writing is editing. Otherwise, you're just taking notes

The main cause of suffering is egoistic desire for one's own comfort and happiness.

We know something of the history of the spread of Christianity, but much passed from recorded memory and much was transmitted by tradition whose accuracy has been repeatedly questioned.

Psychoanalysis is often about turning our ghosts into ancestors.

Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer, like hands joined together, like the end and the way.

Financial crisis is the moment of truth for real collectors and true artists.

I can't remember. . . . My character was sort of unconscious for it.