Criticism is a misconception: we must read not to understand others but to understand ourselves.

Evil

Man must vanquish himself, must do himself violence, in order to perform the slightest action untainted by evil.

Fanatics and Fanaticism

The fanatic is incorruptible: if he kills for an idea, he can just as well get himself killed for one; in either case, tyrant or martyr, he is a monster.

God

A civilization is destroyed only when its gods are destroyed.

Injustice

Progress is the injustice each generation commits with regard to its predecessors.

Martyrdom

No human beings more dangerous than those who have suffered for a belief: the great persecutors are recruited from the martyrs not quite beheaded. Far from diminishing the appetite for power, suffering exasperates it.

Oppression

Tyranny destroys or strengthens the individual; freedom enervates him, until he becomes no more than a puppet. Man has more chances of saving himself by hell than by paradise.

Rejection

Negation is the mind's first freedom, yet a negative habit is fruitful only so long as we exert ourselves to overcome it, adapt it to our needs; once acquired it can imprison us.