There are two principles inherent in the very nature of things, recurring in some particular embodiments whatever field we explore - the spirit of change, and the spirit of conservation. There can be nothing real without both. Mere change without conservation is a passage from nothing to nothing. . . . Mere conservation without change cannot conserve. For after all, there is a flux of circumstance, and the freshness of being evaporates under mere repetition.

I found this out over the years, that racism is a thinly veiled disguise over economics and money. It really is.

The real meaning of persona is a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.

Man is diminished if he lives without knowledge of his past; without hope of a future he becomes a beast.

I was dying. Like all the other people who live in this world.

Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.