I always fear dogma. I don't like anything that's dogmatic because it becomes purely religious again and I despise any form of organized religion.
The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.
Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
Social improvement is attained more readily by a concern with the quality of results than with the purity of motives.
The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are indeed depraved creatures, deserving every punishment, even extermination. We cannot pity those we have wronged, nor can we be indifferent toward them. We must hate and persecute them or else leave the door open to self-contempt.
The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle.
It is not actual suffering but the taste of better things which excites people to revolt.
You can play Bach on the piano, a symphony orchestra or a quartet of saxophones, but let's stop this silly, childish business of knit your own musicology
I'm inspired by love, by the moments that we commit to something with all our heart - be it a person, a project, an animal, anything really. It's undeniably inspiring, that acknowledgment of existence, that I love, that I care. That fills me with purpose.
Now it is nothing but torture.
The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life.