Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

On the whole, the longing for solitude is a sign that there still is spirit in a person and is the measure of what spirit there is. [...] In antiquity as well as in the Middle Ages there was an awareness of this longing for solitude and a respect for what it means; whereas in the constant sociality of our day we shrink from solitude to the point (what a capital epigram!) that no use for it is known other than as a punishment for criminals.

عصر ما به موجب ذات خود، عصر تعمّق و فهم است، امّا از شور و شوق خالی است. همه کس همه چیز را می داند، همه کس می داند به چه راهی باید رفت و هر راه با راه دیگر چه تفاوت های جزئی ای دارد، امّا هیچ کس اراده ی حرکت ندارد.

There are two kinds of geniuses. The characteristic of the one is roaring, but the lightning is meagre and rarely strikes; the other kind is characterized by reflection by which it constrains itself or restrains the roaring. But the lightning is all the more intense; with the speed and sureness of lightning it hits the selected particular points - and is fatal.

Teach me, 0 God, not to torture myself, not to make a martyr out of myself through stifling reflection, but rather teach me to breathe deeply in faith.