“I call myself an extremist - extremely kind, extremely just, extremely merciful, extremely honest. What's wrong? The Qur'an tells me to be extremely honest. Now I cannot be partly honest!”

The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents. <br class="br">&quot; Extremism, Left and Right http://books.google.com/books?id=o3mHAAAAMAAJ&amp;q=%22What+is+objectionable+what+is+dangerous+about+extremists+is+not+that+they+are+extreme+but+that+they+are+intolerant%22+%22evil+is+not+what+they+say+about+their+cause+but%22&amp;pg=PA68#v=onepage,&quot; The Pursuit of Justice, pt. 3 (1964)

Addressing the recent vandalism of Periyar's statue in Vellore.
Political Views

X magazine (1959-62)
Variant: It may be that it is the odd, the personal, the curious, the simply honest, that at this moment, when everyone looks to the extreme and flamboyant, constitutes the most interesting manifestation of the spirit of art.
Context: A situation has occurred wherein a premium is put on any work qualifying for the term "progressive"… The idea of progress in the arts; the notion that we move forward from one good thing to another in a simple progression and in a single direction... Baudelaire dealt so profoundly with this... But this can be said: if there were such a thing as a direct and simple progression from the work of one generation to the next the historical difficulty of the Progressive Artist could not exist... the popular notion of the Progressive and the New Art may not after all be the last word on a complex subject. That there may be, even to-day... such a thing as the absolutely modern. That as before it may be something unexpected, and not completely accounted for in the arrangements for encouraging the arts... For to be contemporary is not necessarily to be part of any movement, to be included in the official representations of national and international art. History shows that it may well be the opposite. It may be that it is the odd, the personal, the curious, the simply honest, that at this moment, when everyone looks to the extreme and flamboyant, constitutes the most interesting manifestation of the spirit of art... It may be necessary to be absolutely modern.

The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)

Source: Reflections on the Failure of Socialism (1955), p. 110

Act IV, scene 5, line 48 (796).
Variant translations:
The highest law is often the greatest wrong.
Extreme justice is often extreme malice.
Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor)

Source: I Capture the Castle

Presidential campaign, 2013