“Man's maturity: to have regained the seriousness that he had as a child at play.”

“The maturity of man—that means, to have reacquired the seriousness that one had as a child at play”

“‎The struggle of maturity is to recover the seriousness of a child at play.”

“In a real man there is a child hidden: it wants to play. Up then, you women, and discover the child in man!”

“In every real man, a child is hidden that wants to play.”

“The real man wants two different things: danger and play. Therefore he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.”

“Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.”