“The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace,The prurient ape's defiling touch:And do you like the human race?No, not much.”

“I ate civilization. It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then," he added in a lower tone, "I ate my own wickedness.”

“The silence of the storm weighs heavilyOn their strained spirits: sometimes one will saySome trivial thing as though to ward awayMysterious powers, that imminently lieIn wait, with the strong exorcising graceOf everyday's futility. DesireBecomes upon a sudden a crystal fire,Defined and hard: If he could kiss her face,Could kiss her hair! As if by chance, her handBrushes on his ... Ah, can she understand?Or is she pedestalled above the touchOf his desire? He wonders: dare he seekFrom her that little, that infinitely much?And suddenly she kissed him on the cheek.”

“Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain.”

“Hug me till you drug me, honey;Kiss me till I'm in a coma.”

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”

“You can't consume much if you sit still and read books.”