“Dealing with egotists is so corrupting because we gradually fall into their mistakes out of self-defense.”

“The ego is the false self-born out of fear and defensiveness.”

“We have to distinguish between riots and revolts.… Riots are illegal. A revolt is legitimate because it is what people must do to express self-defense, self-determination, and self-direction.”

“No matter how hard Evil tries, it can never quite match up to the power of Good, because Evil is ultimately self-destructive. Evil may set out to corrupt others, but in the process corrupts itself.”

“Three years ago he was an honest, self-denying youth, ready to devote himself to every good cause; now he was a corrupt and refined egotist, given over to personal enjoyment. … And all this terrible transformation took place in him only because he ceased to have faith in himself, and began to believe in others.”

“We consider the capacity of the Syrian defensive forces as our own and believe that expansion of defensive ties would … help deal with threats of the enemies.”

“If we experience any failures or setbacks, we do not forget them because they offend our self-esteem. Instead we reflect on them deeply, trying to figure out what went wrong and discern whether there are any patterns to our mistakes.”

“We all make mistakes - we fall in love with tenors and sopranoes even though tenors are as dumb as quarrelsome women, because high tones damage their brains.”

“In self-defense and in defense of the innocent, cowardice is the only sin.”

“It was anticipating self-defense.”