When man speaks he can be observed by the movement of the limbs and listened to in his speech: but how can you penetrate his thought and how can you get to his heart? Who will ever understand what burdens he carries inside him. What really interests him, what he faces in his intimity, what he does or doesn't want?
God has given you one face and you make yourself another.
I met a blind child. He asked me what the sun looked like and I described it to him: He asked me about the ocean and I described it. He asked me about the world and, crying, I made it up.
The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.
He slammed the covers of the Grasshopper violently together. Actual name probably Abendstein. No doubt the SD has looked into it by now. [...]But this book, Reiss thought, is dangerous. If Abendstein should be found dangling from the ceiling some fine morning, it would be a sobering notice to anyone who might be influenced by this book. We would have had the last word. Written the postscript.
Words are full of falseness or art; the look is the language of the heart.
There are few reasons to tell the truth whilst those to lie are infinite.
Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons. The truth will win this marathon in court.
Every man lies but give him a mask and he will be sincere.
Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.