“Of all the works of man I like best Those which have been used. The copper pots with their dents and flattened edges The knives and forks whose wooden handles Have been worn away by many hands: such forms Seemed to me the noblest.”

It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank clerk.

Reality changes; in order to represent it, modes of representation must also change. Nothing comes from nothing; the new comes from the old, but that is why it is new.

Art and science work in quite different ways: agreed. But, bad as it may sound, I have to admit that I cannot get along as an artist without the use of one or two sciences. …

Something ignoble, loathsome, undignified attends all associations between people and has been transferred to all objects, dwelling, tools, even the landscape itself.

It isn’t important to come out on top, what matters is to be the one who comes out alive.

Science knows only one commandment – contribute to science.

The man who laughs has simply not yet had the terrible news.

The righteous one has no sense of humor.

There must always be some who are brighter and some who are stupider, the latter make up for it by being better workers.

You can’t write poems about trees when the woods are full of policemen.

What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?

There are times when you have to choose between being human and having good taste.

He who speaks of enemies , himself is the enemy.

When the praying does no good, insurance does help.

For once you must try not to shirk the facts: mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.

When you name yourself, you always name another.

For knowledge is light, life, felicity, perfection, beauty and the means of approaching the Threshold of Unity. It is the honor and glory of the world of humanity