“What I would like you always to do is what I try humbly to do myself, that is, never to say or to do anything which would wound the feelings or the self-respect of any human being”

And to give special consideration to all who are in any way repressed

[On art:] I believe that it not only enriches the spiritual life, but that it makes one more sane and sympathetic, more observant and understanding, regardless of whatever age it springs from, whatever subjects it represents.

… a nation without humor is not only sad but dangerous.

The revolution is made through human beings, but individuals must forge their revolutionary spirit day by day.

But I didn’t understand then. That I could hurt somebody so badly she would never recover. That a person can, just by living, damage another human being beyond repair.

Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him.

Human beings cannot be willed and molded into non-existence.

Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don’t say that you’ve wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.

A human being is a deciding being.

The life of a single human being is worth millions of times more than all the property of the richest man on earth.

A beast can never be as cruel as a human being, so artistically, so picturesquely cruel.