But what use was the semblance of power without the substance?

You can't go anywhere if you just resign yourself to being attacked. A state of chronic powerlessness eats away at a person.

Die Ohnmacht des Einzelnen ist vielleicht die gefährlichste Illusion, die ein Mensch haben kann.

Power is the gem of necessity. Without observing power, identity remains undiscovered.

I felt caught in a dilemma that was new to me then but which since has become horribly familiar: the trap of adult life, in which you are held, wriggling, powerless to act because you can see both sides. On that occasion, as generally in the future, I compromised.

Lion in the cage won't eat grass

Yet the illusion of meaning recurred, much as you tried to resist it: like childhood, I said, which we treat as an explanatory text rather than merely as a formative experience of powerlessness.

God scoffs at (smiles at) those he sees denouncing the evils of which they are the cause.

Bureaucrats do not take kindly to intercessions. Their one satisfaction in life is to keep us waiting in line, begging for that last signature.

Je n'avais pas envie de mots. Il n'y avait pas de mots. Il n'y en avait pas parce que les mots sont le sens et que ce soir il n'y a plus aucun sens.