There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.
Most people believe that the Christian commandments are intentionally a little too severe.
Father in Heaven! When the thought of thee wakes in our hearts let it not awaken like a frightened bird that flies about in dismay, but like a child waking from its sleep with a heavenly smile.
People commonly travel the world over to see rivers and mountains, new stars, garish birds, freak fish, grotesque breeds of human; they fall into an animal stupor that gapes at existence and they think they have seen something.
On the whole, the longing for solitude is a sign that there still is spirit in a person and is a measure of what spirit there is.
The deepest form of despair is to choose to be another than himself.
During the first period of a man’s life the greatest danger is not to take the risk.
It is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities which one has oneself prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it.
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
Purity of heart is to will one thing.
It seems essential, in relationships and all tasks, that we concentrate only on what is most significant and important.
The thing that cowardice fears most is decision.
The Bible is God’s love letter to us.
Who am I? How did I come into the world? Why was I not consulted?
It was completely fruitless to quarrel with the world, whereas the quarrel with oneself was occasionally fruitful and always, she had to admit, interesting.
For love is exultant when it unites equals, but it is triumphant when it makes that which was unequal equal in love.
One should be an enigma not just to others but to oneself too. I study myself. When I’m tired of that I light a cigar to pass the time, and think: God only knows what the good Lord really meant with me, or what He meant to make of me.
About as genuine as tea made from a bit of paper which once lay in a drawer beside another piece of paper which had been used to wrap up a few tea leaves from which tea had already been made three times.
It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey.
The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.