Herzog

But can thought wake you from the dream of existence? Not if it becomes a second realm of confusion, another more complicated dream, the dream of intellect, the delusion of total explanations.

I pretended not to understand. One of life's hardest jobs, to make a quick understanding slow.

Herzog was all too well aware of the layers upon layers of reality - loathsomeness, arrogance, deceit, and then - God help us all! - truth, as well.

Somewhere in every intellectual is a dumb prick. You guys can't answer your own questions...

I was in no mood for Joachim da Floris and the hidden destiny of Man. Nothing seemed especially hidden - it was all painfully clear.

He was a king, an emotional king, and the depth of his heart was his kingdom.

... she must have been past the point of irony.

... I was not off my rocker. Simply a reactive-depressive.

Dear Doktor Professor Heidegger, I should like to know what you mean by the expression "the fall into the quotidian". When did this fall occur? Where were we standing when it happened?

Herzog wrote, Will never understand what women want. What do they want? They eat green salad and drink human blood.

A girl, in Zelda's view, had a right to expect from her husband nightly erotic gratification, safety, money, insurance, furs, jewelry, cleaning women, drapes, dresses, hats, night clubs, country clubs, automobiles, theater!

You have to fight for your life. That's the chief condition on which you hold it.

He had more enemies and hatreds than anyone could easily guess from his thoughtful expression.

He might have to pay with his freedom. Of course he didn't need that freedom now; he needed a rest. Still, after resting, he might want his freedom again.

Looking for happiness - ought to be prepared for bad results.

Beauty is not a human invention.

A person of irregular tendencies, he practiced the art of circling among random facts to swoop down on the essentials. He often expected to take the essentials by surprise, by an amusing stratagem.

Unless you are utterly exploded, there is always something to be grateful for.

His ambitions received a sharp check. Hegel was giving him a great deal of trouble. Ten years earlier he had been certain he understood his ideas on consensus and civility, but something had gone wrong.

"If I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog."