1. “A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer. He is a man who has signed a contract with his conscious and his sense of duty.”
2. ”Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
3. “Every man's intimate existence is kept mysterious, and perhaps, in part, because of that civilized people are so nervously anxious that a personal secret should be respected.”
4. “He who writes nothing silly writes nothing great.”
5. "I am afraid of those who will look for tendenciousness between the lines and who are determined to see me either as a liberal or a conservative. I am neither a liberal nor a conservative, neither a gradualist nor a monk nor an indifferentist. I would like to be nothing more than a free artist, and I regret that God did not give me the gift to be one. I hate falseness and coercion in all their forms . . . . Pharisaism, stupidity and arbitrariness reign not merely in merchants' houses and police stations: I see them in science, in literature, among the young. That is why I have no particular passion for either policemen or butchers or scientists or writers or the young. I consider brand-names and labels a prejudice. My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and absolute freedom, freedom from force and falseness in whatever form they express themselves. That's the platform I'd subscribe to if I were a great artist."
6. “If you cry Forward! you must without fail make plain in what direction to go. Don't you see that if, without doing so, you call out the word to both a monk and a revolutionary, they will go in directions precisely opposite?”
7. “I hate lies and violence in all their forms. Pharisaism, stupidity, and arbitrariness dwell not only in the houses of merchants...; I see them in science, in literature, among the youth...I regard trademarks and labels as prejudices. My holy of holies is the human body, health, mind, talent, inspiration, love and absolute freedom--- freedom from violence and lies.”
8. ”In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with humans it is the other way around: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar.”
9. “Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.”
10. "Man is what he believes."
11. "My business is to be talented, that is, to be capable of selecting the important moments from the trivial ones....It's about time for writers ~ particularly those who are genuine artists ~ to recognize that in this world you cannot figure out everything. Just have a writer who the crowds trust be courageous enough and declare that he does not understand everything, and that lone will represent a major contribution to the way people think, a long leap forward."
12. "No psychologist should pretend to understand what he does not understand....Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand nothing."
13. “One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake.”
14. “That which dies in a man is only his five senses. That which continues to exist, beyond his senses, is immense, unimaginable, sublime.”
15. “The more refined one is, the more unhappy.”
16. “The personal life of every individual is based on secrecy, and perhaps it is partly for that reason that civilised man is so nervously anxious that personal privacy should be respected.”
17. “There is no national science just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.”
18. “To judge between good and bad, between successful and unsuccessful would take the eye of a god.”
19. "We shall find peace.
We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds."
20. ”When an actor has money he doesn't send letters, he sends telegrams.”
21. “You will not become a saint through other people's sins.”
2. ”Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
3. “Every man's intimate existence is kept mysterious, and perhaps, in part, because of that civilized people are so nervously anxious that a personal secret should be respected.”
4. “He who writes nothing silly writes nothing great.”
5. "I am afraid of those who will look for tendenciousness between the lines and who are determined to see me either as a liberal or a conservative. I am neither a liberal nor a conservative, neither a gradualist nor a monk nor an indifferentist. I would like to be nothing more than a free artist, and I regret that God did not give me the gift to be one. I hate falseness and coercion in all their forms . . . . Pharisaism, stupidity and arbitrariness reign not merely in merchants' houses and police stations: I see them in science, in literature, among the young. That is why I have no particular passion for either policemen or butchers or scientists or writers or the young. I consider brand-names and labels a prejudice. My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and absolute freedom, freedom from force and falseness in whatever form they express themselves. That's the platform I'd subscribe to if I were a great artist."
6. “If you cry Forward! you must without fail make plain in what direction to go. Don't you see that if, without doing so, you call out the word to both a monk and a revolutionary, they will go in directions precisely opposite?”
7. “I hate lies and violence in all their forms. Pharisaism, stupidity, and arbitrariness dwell not only in the houses of merchants...; I see them in science, in literature, among the youth...I regard trademarks and labels as prejudices. My holy of holies is the human body, health, mind, talent, inspiration, love and absolute freedom--- freedom from violence and lies.”
8. ”In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with humans it is the other way around: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar.”
9. “Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.”
10. "Man is what he believes."
11. "My business is to be talented, that is, to be capable of selecting the important moments from the trivial ones....It's about time for writers ~ particularly those who are genuine artists ~ to recognize that in this world you cannot figure out everything. Just have a writer who the crowds trust be courageous enough and declare that he does not understand everything, and that lone will represent a major contribution to the way people think, a long leap forward."
12. "No psychologist should pretend to understand what he does not understand....Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand nothing."
13. “One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake.”
14. “That which dies in a man is only his five senses. That which continues to exist, beyond his senses, is immense, unimaginable, sublime.”
15. “The more refined one is, the more unhappy.”
16. “The personal life of every individual is based on secrecy, and perhaps it is partly for that reason that civilised man is so nervously anxious that personal privacy should be respected.”
17. “There is no national science just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.”
18. “To judge between good and bad, between successful and unsuccessful would take the eye of a god.”
19. "We shall find peace.
We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds."
20. ”When an actor has money he doesn't send letters, he sends telegrams.”
21. “You will not become a saint through other people's sins.”
