“To be obsessed by the idea of freedom, for instance, is itself a form of slavery. Such people are in the chains of the hope of freedom, and are therefore able to do little else than struggle with them.”

“But one may say something and yet not be able to do it. Try, for instance, lifting yourself up by the bootstraps.”

“Exaggeration is a standard peculiarity of man. To deprecate is often a form of exaggeration which people do not notice, because it appears to be its opposite.”

“People who speak or act in an ordinary fashion are most likely to be those who have been the recipients of higher experiences. But because they do not rage around, wild-eyed, people think that they are very ordinary folk and therefore not aware of anything unknown to the general run of man.”

“People used to play with toys.Now the toys play with them.”

“Denial and affirmation are games which people play.There are people who deny that they are capable of denying, and who would insist that people do not insist.”

“An egocentric pessimist is a person who thinks he hasn't changed, but that other people are behaving worse than before.”