“The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces – in nature, in society, in man himself.”

Our differences with [Joseph] Stalin are entirely of a strategical character.

If you cannot convince a Fascist, acquaint his head with the pavement.

If one cannot get along without a mirror, even in shaving oneself, how can one reconstruct oneself or one’s life, without seeing oneself in the “mirror” of literature?

Life is not an easy matter… You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.

The fall of the present bureaucratic dictatorship [in the Soviet Union], if it were not replaced by a new socialist power, would thus mean a return to capitalist relations with a catastrophic decline of industry and culture.

If we close our eyes to the dark sides of the workers’ State which we have helped to create, we shall never reach socialism.

Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression, and violence, and enjoy it to the full.

City of prose and fantasy, of capitalist automation, its streets a triumph of cubism, its moral philosophy that of the dollar. New York impressed me tremendously because, more than any other city, it is the fullest expression of our modern age.

Only in the Fall of 1924 did [Joseph] Stalin discover that it is especially Russia, as distinguished from other countries, which can by its own forces build up a socialist society.

From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.

Once again, he who ignores the problems of revolutionary strategy would do better not to talk about revolutions at all.

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely.

If we had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes.

When one runs with the wolves, one must howl with the pack.

Under all conditions, well-organized violence seems to him the shortest distance between two points.

He who slanders the victim aids the executioner.

I saw that all aspects of my life had been pulling me out of balance because I hadn’t perceived them as part of a “whole,” or the totality that was “me.”

You have to lean into the turn. On every creative aspect, you have to lean into what’s working.

Form is any aspect of a poem that encourages it to stay whole and not drift off into chaos.

To change any aspect of our life we must be willing to change our mind… Unfortunately, that is the one thing most people are the least willing to do.

Being busy and being seen to be busy lets you off the hook. Buys you a way out of all aspects of your many roles you secretly despiselike cleaning cupboardsor entertaining your husband’s business friends.

Whether a tops-down or bottoms-up investor in bonds, stocks, or private equity, the standard analysis tends to judge an investor or his firm on the basis of how the bullish or bearish aspects of the cycle were managed.

The central aspect of worship is the feeling of being at one with God.

A whole aspect of living well, of civilization itself, is threatened with extinction.