“Honesty is the only sign of those who expect nothing from anyone.”

“Ruskin says that anyone who expects perfection from a work of art knows nothing of works of art. This is an appealing sentence that, so far as I can see, is not true about a few pictures and statues and pieces of music, short stories and short poems. Whether or not you expect perfection from them, you get it; at least, there is nothing in them that you would want changed. But what Ruskin says is true about novels: anyone who expects perfection from even the greatest novel knows nothing of novels.”

“Honesty is a very expensive gift, Don't expect it from cheap people.”

“The most content people are those who expect nothing, who have ceased to dream.”

“But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous sentiments and normal emotions.”

“The devil does not sign contracts with just anyone. Upon the tens of millions, no judgment is pronounced. For them there is death, of course, but no doom. The trouble with history is its incorrigible and horrifying honesty. Only the truly doomed matter a damn to it. History is the abyss of the doomed.”

“To anyone who took the trouble to look, I was plainly visible, but when people are expecting to see nothing, that is usually what they see.”

“Hypocrisy is a game of pretense. It's a lack of honesty. Clearly, Jesus did not abide hypocrites. He expects honesty. He expects straightforwardness, and he expects us to be humble about it all.”

“Honesty is the only way with anyone, when you'll be so close as to be living inside each other's skins.”

“Maybe my expectations for honesty are too high.”