“One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often.”

“There are some pains that run very deeply, as so that the strongest one accept them without being broken.”

“It is very difficult to make one's way in this world without being wicked at one time or another, when the world's way is so wicked to being with.”

“One cannot shape the world without being reshaped in the process. Each gain of power requires its own sacrifice.”

“I must be without remorse or regrets as I am without excuse; for from the instant of my upsurge into being, I carry the weight of the world by myself alone without help, engaged in a world for which I bear the whole responsibility without being able, whatever I do, to tear myself away from this responsibility for an instant.”

“I am abandoned in the world... in the sense that I find myself suddenly alone and without help, engaged in a world for which I bear the whole responsibility without being able, no matter what I do, to tear myself away from this responsibility for an instant.”