“A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership.”

“Looking foolish does the spirit good. The need not to look foolish is one of youth's many burdens; as we get older we are exempted from more and more.”

“Hope bases vast premises upon foolish accidents and reads a word where, in fact, only a scribble exists.”

“So much love, too much love, it is our madness, it is rotting us out, exploding us like dandelion polls.”

“I like old men. They can be wonderful bastards because they have nothing to lose. The only people who can be themselves are babies and old bastards.”

“To say that war is madness is like saying that sex is madness: true enough, from the standpoint of a stateless eunuch, but merely a provocative epigram for those who must make their arrangements in the world as given.”

“A yawning repetitiveness as of a man who knows few words but will not stop talking.”