Consciousness is a being the nature of which is to be conscious of the nothingness of its being.
Night is falling: at dusk, you must have good eyesight to be able to tell the Good Lord from the Devil.
I wanted the moments of my life to follow and order themselves like those of a life remembered. You might as well try and catch time by the tail.
As for me, I am mean: that means that I need the suffering of others to exist. A flame. A flame in their hearts. When I am all alone, I am extinguished.
A man is involved in life, leaves his impress on it, and outside of that there is nothing.
To think new thoughts you have to break the bones in your head.
An individual chooses and makes himself.
The consciousness that says ‘I am’ is not the consciousness that thinks.
I wanted my own words. But the ones I use have been dragged through I don’t know how many consciences.
The appearance of the other in the world corresponds therefore to a congealed sliding of the whole universe.
When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die.
Love or hatred calls for self-surrender. He cuts a fine figure, the warm-blooded, prosperous man, solidly entrenched in his well-being, who one fine day surrenders all to love – or to hatred; himself, his house, his land, his memories.
We are possessed by the things we possess. When I like an object, I always give it to someone. It isn’t generosity-it’s only because I want others to be enslaved by objects, not me.
Several hours or several years make no difference once you have lost eternity.
Once liberty has exploded in the soul of a man, the gods can do nothing against that man.
If you begin by saying, ‘Thou shalt not lie,’ there is no longer any possibility of political action.
It is not a matter of indifference whether we like oysters or clams, snails or shrimp, if only we know how to unravel the existential significance of these foods.
Never have I thought that I was the happy possessor of a “talent;” my sole concern has been to save myself by work and faith.
Ah! How I hate the crimes of the new generation: they are dry and sterile as darnel.
So much torture, bloodshed, deceit. You cannot make your young people practice torture twenty-four hours a day and not expect to pay a price for it.