The would-be climber must be able to make himself liked ... please his superiors — avoid showing independence except in those matters wherein indepen… - Karl Jaspers

I live in a kind of tension between the will to say yes to my suffering, and my inability to utter this yes with complete sincerity.

We are sorely deficient in talking with each other and listening to each other. We lack mobility, criticism and self-criticism. We incline to doctrinism. What makes it worse is that so many people do not really want to think. They want only slogans and obedience. They ask no questions and they give no answers, except by repeating drilled-in phrases. They can only assert and obey, neither probe nor apprehend. Thus they cannot be convinced, either. How shall we talk with people who will not go where others probe and think, where men seek independence in insight and conviction?

Jistý úředník během denacifikace: „Pokud jsem vstoupil pod nátlakem do strany a dal tak přednost relativně dobrému postavení, pokud jsem se zařídil v nacistickém státě a stal se tak poživatelem určitých výhod a pokud teď musím nést nepříznivé následky, pak nemám - třebaže jsem to učinil s vnitřním nepřátelstvím – právo si stěžovat.