“At the very beginning of my creative life I loved humanity. I wanted to do something good for mankind. Soon I understood that it isn’t possible to save mankind.”

“Why," said the saint, "did I go into the forest and the desert? Was it not because I loved mankind far too well? Now I love God! Mankind I do not love; mankind is a thing too imperfect for me. Love of mankind would be fatal to me.”

“I love mankind, he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.”

“I love mankind. And by mankind I mean women.”

“They say: 'If a man knew himself,he would know all mankind.'I say: 'If a man loved mankind,he would know something of himself.”

“My music is the spiritual expression of what I am — my faith, my knowledge, my being...When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups...I want to speak to their souls.”