“In exalting the faculties of the soul, we annihilate, in a great degree, the delusion of the senses.”

Whether slaves or free, they reign, because their empire is that of the affections.

All our first movements are good, generous, heroical; reflection weakens and kills them.

Whatever may be the laws and customs of a country, women always give the tone to morals.

If you would know the political and moral condition of a people, ask as to the position of its women.

It requires two indiscreet persons to institute a quarrel; one individual cannot quarrel alone.

It is very clear that one way to challenge insults is to submit to them.

Isn’t it sad how some people’s grip on their lives is so precarious that they’ll embrace any preposterous delusion rather than face an occasional bleak truth?

That the self advances and confirms the ten thousand things is called delusion; that the ten thousand things advance and confirm the self is called enlightenment.

justice itself is a chimera, a delusion. Justice is not a flat yardstick, applied in equal measure to an equal situation.

Prominence is cool, but when the delusion kicks in it can be a drag. Especially if you choose to surround yourself with friends and not acolytes.

To surmise was not to conquer, of course; he was as helpless as ever but there was a dim liberation in seeing how he had been lied to, and he felt that at least he could take one thing from the terrible years through which he had come: he was free of self-delusion.

Delusion means mortality. And awareness means Buddhahood.

Worship means reverence and humility. It means revering your real self and humbling delusions. If you can wipe out evil desires and harbor good thoughts, even if nothing shows, it’s worship. Such form is its real form.

Not creating delusions is enlightenment.