“Involuntarily it appeared to me that there, somewhere, was someone who amused himself by watching how I lived for thirty or forty years: learning, developing, maturing in body and mind, and how, having with matured mental powers reached the summit of life from which it all lay before me, I stood on that summit -- like an arch-fool -- seeing clearly that there is nothing in life, and that there has been and will be nothing. And he was amused... But whether that "someone" laughing at me existed or not, I was none the better off. I could give no reasonable meaning to any single action or to my whole life. I was only surprised that I could have avoided understanding this from the very beginning -- it has been so long known to all. Today or tomorrow sickness and death will come (they had come already) to those I love or to me; nothing will remain but stench and worms. Sooner or later my affairs, whatever they may be, will be forgotten, and I shall not exist. Then why go on making any effort?... How can man fail to see this? And how go on living? That is what is surprising! One can only live while one is intoxicated with life; as soon as one is sober it is impossible not to see that it is all a mere fraud and a stupid fraud! That is precisely what it is: there is nothing either amusing or witty about it, it is simply cruel and stupid.”

“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.”

“It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.”

“Many people, who should have been rejoicing for what they've achieved, are rather regretting just because of one reason; they looked at what someone else was doing. Comparison eliminates contentment and then kills inner joy!”

“POSITIVE ATTITUDE: THE FIRST KEY TO WHAT HAPPENS IN YOU”

“If God would have wanted us to live in a permissive society He would have given us Ten Suggestions and not Ten Commandments.”

“Life is a classroom -- only those who are willing to be lifelong learners will move to the head of the class.”

“It's not me who can't keep a secret. It's the people I tell that can't.”

“God is always more interested in why we do something than in what we do. Attitudes count more than achievements.”

“Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it.”

“Most people go through life by the line of least resistance in every circumstance where they can make a choice. They do not recognize that following the lines of least resistance makes all rivers, and some men, crooked!”

“Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is the task of Religion to fit man into this lawfulness.”

“I saw many people who begun their marathon races lately, but they eventually came up as top winners. I believe that your "lateness" does not account for your "lastness". It's not too late for you to make a start... Begin it now! No further delays!”

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi”

“I have been trying to make the reader believe that we actually are, at present, creatures whose character must be, in some respects, a horror to God, as it is, when we really see it, a horror to ourselves. This I believe to be a fact: and I notice that the holier a man is, the more fully he is aware of that fact.”