Quotes

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It's good when a man deceives your expectations, when he doesn't correspond to the preconceived notion of him. To belong to a type is the end of a man, his condemnation. If he doesn't fall into any category, if he's not representative, half of what's demanded of him is there. He's free of himself, he has achieved a grain of immortality.

Doctor Zhivago
And then the two basic ideals of modern man - without them he is unthinkable - the idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice.

Doctor Zhivago
Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create - this is man.

The Grapes of Wrath
Formerly man had only a body and a soul. Now he needs a passport as well for without it he will not be treated like a human being.

The World of Yesterday
Men, dazed by pleasure, absent-mindedly sow their seed. Overcome by their orgasm, they fertilize us. They show up inside us and withdraw, leaving, concealed in our flesh, their ghost, like a lost object.

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
I am not at all impressed... at how far man's wisdom has managed to lead him; besides, it is not very great. What does surprise me, on the other hand, is how high their folly, their downright stupidity even, not to say their complete and utter blindness, has managed to raise them. Other things being equal, I prefer to follow the folly of man, for that has brought him farther than his wisdom.

Paradise Reclaimed
I detest the masculine point of view. I am bored by his heroism, virtue, and honour. I think the best these men can do is not talk about themselves anymore.
I suppose if a man has something once, always something of it remains.

For Whom the Bell Tolls
Let him think that I am more man than I am and I will be so.

The Old Man and the Sea
If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms.
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
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