"The quest for philosophy's beginning is idle, for everywhere in all beginnings we find only the crude, the unformed, the empty, and the ugly. What matters in all things is the higher levels."

"But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!"

"Experience, as a desire for experience, does not come off. We must not study ourselves while having an experience."

"Not by wrath does one kill, but by laughter."

"They punish you for all your virtues. They forgive you entirely--your mistakes."

"In truth, there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross."

"I knew I'd been living in Berkeley too long when I saw a sign that said 'Free firewood' and my first thought was 'Who was Firewood and what did he do?'"

"It was not pre-arranged. It just happened that the driver made and demand and I just didn't feel like obeying his demand . . . I was quite tired after spending a full day working."

"One does not learn how to die by killing others."

"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."

"There are powers inside of you, if you could discover and use, would make of you everything you ever dreamed or imagined you could become."

"Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms."