“Since I am I, I must make an act of self-surrender, however small or however easy, in living to God rather than to my self.”

“From time to time, I do consider that I might be mad. Like any self-respecting lunatic, however, I am always quick to dismiss any doubts about my sanity.”

“Since I am determined to join myself to God, I find that I am also bound to be the enemy of his enemies. And since I find nothing that is more his enemy than the self that is me, I am constrained to hate this part of me more than any other.”

“This is what I believe: That I am I. That my soul is a dark forest. That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest. That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back. That I must have the courage to let them come and go. That I will never let mankind put anything over me, but that I will try always to recognize and submit to the gods in me and the gods in other men and women. There is my creed.”

“To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.”

“No prize , however great can justify an ounce of self deception or a small departure of the ugly facts. ( Notes from Underground)”