“What is existence for but to be laughed at if men in their twenties have already attained the utmost?”

It is impossible to exist without passion.

The task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted.

It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey.

Boredom is the root of all evil.

Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor.

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible.

The highest and most beautiful things in life are not to be heard about, nor read about, nor seen but, if one will, are to be lived.

My melancholy is the most faithful sweetheart I have had.

What labels me, negates me.

In my great melancholy, I loved life, for I love my melancholy.

And this is one of the most crucial definitions for the whole of Christianity; that the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith.

What if everything in the world were a misunderstanding, what if laughter were really tears?

I stick my finger into existence and it smells of nothing.

The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all.

Why bother remembering a past that cannot be made into a present?

In the secretly blushing cheek is reflected the glow of the heart.

It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.

In real life, love has to be possible. Even if it is not returned right away, love can only survive when the hope exists that you will be able to win over the person you desire.

The family exists for many reasons, but its most basic function may be to draw together after a member dies.

I think that people just have this core desire to express who they are. And I think that’s always existed.

Men exist for the sake of one another.

It is in your act that you exist, not in your body. Your act is yourself, and there is no other you.

Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.

Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.