Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.

All lives are different, and some face hardships that others will never know. But we all share the same universe, the same laws of nature, and the same fundamental task of creating meaning and of mattering for ourselves and those around us in the brief amount of time we have in the world. Three billion…

Love does not dominate, it cultivates. And that is more.

You should always ask questions, the bigger the better. If you ask big questions, you get big answers.

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC.

Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself.

Picture all experts as if they were mammals.

Reality is perhaps not at all what I imagine. Perhaps it doesn’t exist, in fact. Perhaps it only exists as a longing.

Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.

We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” The second one says, “What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?”

If you think you are enlightened, go home for Thanksgiving.

The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that—it’s all illusion. Unknown is what it is. Accept that it’s unknown and it’s plain sailing. Everything is unknown—then you’re ahead of the game. That’s what it is. Right?

Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant—there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing—and keeping the unknown always beyond you.

Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.

Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.

If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.

The bad news is we don’t have any control. The good news is you can’t make any mistakes.

Trust only him who doubts.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Silence is not only golden; it is seldom misquoted.

When an old and distinguished person speaks to you, listen to him carefully and with respect—but do not believe him. Never put your trust into anything but your own intellect. Your elder—no matter whether he has gray hair or has lost his hair, no matter whether he is a Nobel laureate—may be wrong.

Time is a hostage to the powers of perception.

That’s not it. That’s not it at all. You always have a tendency to add. But one must be able to subtract too. It’s not enough to integrate, you must also disintegrate. That’s the way life is. That’s philosophy. That’s science. That’s progress, civilization.

Yesterday’s clarity is today’s stupidity / The universe has dark and light, entrust oneself to change

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge in the field of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.