Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.

It is good to express a thing twice right at the outset and so to give it a right foot and also a left one. Truth can surely stand on one leg, but with two it will be able to walk and get around.

Anybody can be specific and obvious. That’s always been the easy way. It’s not that it’s so difficult to be unspecific and less obvious; it’s just that there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, to be specific and obvious about.

I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy.

There is nothing permanent except change.

The kind of fiction I’m trying to write is about telling the truth.

When you cease to exist, then who will you blame?

We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.

Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.

Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present.

Say not, ‚I have found the truth,‘ but rather, ‚I have found a truth.‘

Our present moment is a mystery that we are part of. Here and now is where all the wonder of life lies hidden. And make no mistake about it, to strive to live completely in the present is to strive for what already is the case.

The love of economy is the root of all virtue.

The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head.

The truth is lived, not taught.

To us also, through every star, through every blade of grass, is not God made visible if we will open our minds and our eyes.

So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.

Silence is as deep as eternity, speech a shallow as time.

To abandon oneself to principles is really to die – and to die for an impossible love which is the contrary of love.

Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don’t find out til too late that he’s been playing with two queens all along.

Our nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?

Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.

My philosophy is: It’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me.

The components of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger do not exist independently of you in the world. They simply do not exist in the physical world, even though we talk about them as if they do.

Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.

What was God doing before the divine creation?

The learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant.

I happen to believe there is evil in the world.

All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.

I draw from the Absurd three consequences: my revolt, my liberty, my passion.

The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosopher’s or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself, and that is why you must know yourself – Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.

We’re all caught up in circumstances, and we’re all good and evil. When you’re really hungry, for instance, you’ll do anything to survive. I think the most evil thing – well, maybe that’s too strong – but certainly a very evil thing is judgment, the sin of ignorance.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

When I am writing, I do not distinguish between the natural and supernatural. Everything seems real. That is my world, you could say.

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

I grow daily to honour facts more and more, and theory less and less. A fact, it seems to me, is a great thing; a sentence printed, if not by God, then at least by the Devil.

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

May you live your life as if the maxim of your actions were to become universal law.

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being.

It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.

I’m an idealist without illusions.

Time stays, we go.

The cause of my life has been to oppose superstition. It’s a battle you can’t hope to win – it’s a battle that’s going to go on forever. It’s part of the human condition.

He who has made a fair compact with poverty is rich.

Man was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired.

I walk every day, and I look at the mountains and the fields and the small city, and I say: ‚Oh my God, what a blessing.‘ Then you realise it’s important to put it in a context beyond this woman, this man, this city, this country, this universe.

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

Culture: the cry of men in face of their destiny.

All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.

To live outside the law, you must be honest.

I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.

As we are, so we associate. The good, by affinity, seek the good; the vile, by affinity, the vile. Thus of their own volition, souls proceed into Heaven, into Hell.