I want no secrets or soul-states, nothing ineffable; I am neither
virgin nor priest enough to play with the inner life.

I am not a human being enjoying a spiritual life, I am a spiritual being enjoying a human life.

As to conforming outwardly and living your own life inwardly, I do not think much of that.

I'm not prepared to accept a standard which puts the whole of my emotional life on the plane of immorality.

I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.

I cannot take credit for the fact that I do not have the soul of a psychopath.

I am no Christian, in the sense usually attached to that word. I am neither Jew nor Gentile, Mohammedan or Theist. I am but a member of the human family.

I don't want to go to school and learn solemn things.

But I'm not a saint yet. I'm an alcoholic. I'm a drug addict. I'm homosexual. I'm a genius.

I was not born to amuse the Tsars.

I refuse to repent, and I won't plague myself over what is done and past

A man of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses.

I do not believe that to be religious in the best, authentic sense a man has to destroy his love life and mummify himself, body and soul.

It must be added at once that such a profane existence is never found in the pure state. To whatever degree he may have desacralized the world, the man who has made his choice in favor of a profane life never succeeds in completely doing away with religious behavior.