“Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us — by obligations, not by rights.”

“Remember that rights are moral principles which define and protect a man's freedom of action, but impose no obligations on other men.”

“We dare not do all that our opponents do. We dare not sacrifice everything for advantages. For what is an advantage to our opponents is deadly poison to us. The nobility say of themselves, noblesse oblige; so we may say, socialisme oblige, socialism imposes its obligations.”

“In solitude, at last, we’re able to let God define us the way we are always supposed to be defined—by relationship: the I-thou relationship, in relation to a Presence that demands nothing of us but presence itself. Not performance but presence”

“Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this.”

“Women who do not opt out of demanding professional positions are more likely to opt out of demanding family obligations.”

“Our faith obliges us to bind wounds, not to make blood run.”

“We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!”

“Nietzsche, driven by the absolute demand of his existential truthfulness, could not abide the bourgeois world, even when its representative had human nobility.”

“It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It's not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.”