“Irony is the form of paradox. Paradox is what is good and great at the same time.”
“Prudishness is pretense of innocence without innocence. Women have to remain prudish as long as men are sentimental, dense, and evil enough to demand of them eternal innocence and lack of education. For innocence is the only thing which can ennoble lack of education.”
“Good drama must be drastic.”
“Virtue is reason which has become energy.”
“It is peculiar to mankind to transcend mankind.”
“Every uneducated person is a caricature of himself.”
“A critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus, he should have more than one stomach.”
“What is called good society is usually nothing but a mosaic of polished caricatures.”
“In actual life every great enterprise begins with and takes its first forward step in faith.”
“An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog.”
“Genius is, to be sure, not a matter of arbitrariness, but rather of freedom, just as wit, love, and faith, which once shall become arts and disciplines. We should demand genius from everybody, without, however, expecting it.”