“I was a coward and a slave. I say this without the slightest embarrassment. Every decent man of our age must be a coward and a slave.”

“Every decent man of our age must be a coward and a slave. That is his normal condition. Of that I am firmly persuaded. He is made and constructed to that very end. And not only at the present time owing to some casual circumstance, but always, at all times, a decent man is bound to be a coward and a slave.”

“It is a law of nature that every decent man on earth is bound to be a coward and a slave”

“Every decent man of our time is and is bound to be a coward and a slave. This is his normal condition. I am deeply convinced of that. This is how he is constituted, and this is what he is meant to be. ”

“Reason is the slave of passion.”

“A developed and decent man cannot be vain without a boundless exactingness towards himself and without despising himself at moments to the point of hatred.”

“A cultivated and decent man cannot be vain without setting a fearfully high standard for himself, and without despising and almost hating himself at certain moments.”