“Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction.”

Contradiction is the lever of transcendence.

Even if our efforts of attention seem for years to be producing no result, one day a light that is in exact proportion to them will flood the soul.

There is only one fault, only one: our inability to feed upon light.

To die for God is not a proof of faith in God. To die for an unknown and repulsive convict who is a victim of injustice, that is a proof of faith in God.

Never react to an evil in such a way as to augment it.

The extreme greatness of Christianity lies in the fact that it does not seek a supernatural remedy for suffering but a supernatural use for it.

Love: To feel with one’s whole self the existence of another being.

One has only the choice between God and idolatry. There is no other possibility. For the faculty of worship is in us, and it is either directed somewhere into this world, or into another.

There are only two things that pierce the human heart. One is beauty. The other is affliction.

Purity is the ability to contemplate defilement.

The world is God’s language to us.

If you want to know what a man is really like, take notice of how he acts when he loses money.

Stars and blossoming fruit-trees: utter permanence and extreme fragility give an equal sense of eternity.

A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.

When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder.

The glossy surface of our civilization hides a real intellectual decadence.

Any real ecstasy is a sign you are moving in the right direction.

The time you want the map, is before you enter the woods.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.

I believe we would be happier to have a personal revolution in our individual lives and go back to simpler living and more direct thinking.

Besides entertainment and action, I want to educate. You know, as a producer or director, we do have a responsibility to society.

You don’t need directions, just point yourself to the top and go!

Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.

You know, you don’t need to grow old to die. I was dying at the age of 20 as a result of no direction and no purpose.