Why is it so painful to watch a person sink? Because there is something unnatural in it, for nature demands personal progress, evolution, and every backward step means wasted energy.

Not everyone is capable of madness; and of those lucky enough to be capable, not many have the courage for it.

A man with a so-called character is often a simple piece of mechanism; he has often only one point of view for the extremely complicated relationships of life.

By attempting the impossible one can attain the highest level of the possible.

I prefer silence. Then you can hear thoughts and see into the past. In silence you can’t hide anything … as you can in words.

I dream, therefore I exist.

There are poisons that blind you, and poisons that open your eyes.

Some people seem to be born to suffer.

No matter how far we travel, the memories will follow in the baggage car.

Religion must be a punishment, because nobody gets religion who does not have a bad conscience.

Silence hides nothing. Words conceal.

Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter — you are just there in front of the fire. You don't have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you.

Songs are as sad as the listener.

If deep in our hearts we suspect that God does not love us and cannot manage our affairs as well as we can, we certainly will not submit to His discipline.

Doubts and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination which the steadfast heart will conquer and the large mind transcend.

Don't let other people tell you what you want.

My tastes are aristocratic my actions democratic.

We need to demand that our food is labeled, especially genetically modified foods, and learn how it is produced, processed, and grown.

Which is worse? Killing with hate or killing without hate?

Words are a human way of trying to describe things. But they're much more of interference than they are a help in the world of enlightenment.

People are hungry for stories. It's part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another. -Studs Terkel