“No book can ever be finished. While working on it we learn just enough to find it immature the moment we turn away from it”

If we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.

The conspiracy theory of society, comes from abandoning God and then asking: “Who is in his place?”

It is complete nihilism to propose laying down arms in a world where atom bombs are around. It is very simple: there is no way of achieving peace other than with weapons.

The future depends on ourselves, and we do not depend on any historical necessity.

Theories are nets cast to catch what we call ‘the world’: to rationalize, to explain, and to master it. We endeavor to make the mesh ever finer and finer.

No rational argument will have a rational effect on a man who does not want to adopt a rational attitude.

We may become the makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets.

Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but hell.

The most we can say of democracy or freedom is that they give our personal abilities a little more influence on our well-being.

It is not the consciousness of man that determines his existence – rather, it is his social existence that determines his consciousness.

It is wrong to think that belief in freedom always leads to victory; we must always be prepared for it to lead to defeat. If we choose freedom, then we must be prepared to perish along with it.

The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world.

Always remember that it is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood: there will always be some who misunderstand you.

We must regard all laws or theories as hypothetical or conjectural; that is, as guesses.

True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.

Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths.

I was never much of a reader when I was a boy. Books bored me. I liked action. But I spent a lot of time thinking about things. I’d imagine all kinds of situations and how I would handle them.

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.

I thought I’d begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine.

We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.

I don’t shoot people with Korans. I’d like to, but I don’t.

Other people are talking about writing books about my life, or about some of the things I’ve done. I find it strange, but I also feel it’s my life and my story, and I guess I better be the one to get it on paper the way it actually happened.

Impossible is the word for fools in my dictionary.

Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.