The cynic, a parasite of civilization, lives by denying it, for the very reason that he is convinced that it will not fail.

Rancor is an outpouring of a feeling of inferiority.

We need to study the whole of history, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.

The type of human being we prefer reveals the contours of our heart.

Effort is only effort when it begins to hurt.

Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.

Life is a series of collisions with the future.

I am I plus my surroundings; and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself.

An 'unemployed' existence is a worse negation of life than death itself.

To wonder is to begin to understand.

We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself.

Are you going to give her gonorrhea too, or was that gift just for me?

Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than 18 years of dealing with him across a desk.

You can call a thing possible which is still to happen, but not which has already taken place.

I'm aware that success can overwhelm you. The perception of you can be elevated to such a status that it's not you any more.

I know there are people who don't read fiction at all, and I find it hard to understand how they can bear to be inside the same head all the time.

The heavy spacesuits are spectacular to look at but very hot. Putting one on was like going from chilly London winter weather to the Bahamas in just minutes.

Let us overthrow the totems, break the taboos. Or better, let us consider them cancelled. Coldly, let us be intelligent.

What we sincerely believe regarding ourselves is true for us.

The poetry of life must not be replaced with matter-of-fact prose.