But was it love? Was it simply the hysteria of a man who, aware deep down of his inaptitude for love, felt the self-deluding need to simulate it? - Milan Kundera

الخلط بين المظهر الجسدي للمحبوبة ومظهر آخر: كم مرة سبق له ان عاش ذلك؟ عاشه دائماً بالدهشة ذاتها: هل الفرق بينها وبين الآخريات إذن بهذه الضآلة؟ كيف يمكن أن لا يعرف كيف يتعرف على طيب أحب الكائنات إليه، طيب الكائن الذي يعده لا مثيل له؟!

The longing for Paradise is man's longing not to be man.

There is no particular merit in being nice to one's fellow man... We can never establish with certainty what part of our relations with others is a result of our emotions - love apathy, charity of malice - and what part is predetermines by the constant power play among individuals.
True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buries from view), consists of attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental débâcle, a débâcle so fundamental all others stem from it.