Missions are stupid, Tereza. I have no mission. No one has. And it's a terrific relief to realize you're free, free of all missions.

Kitsch is the aesthetic ideal of all politicians and all political parties and movements. Those of us who live in a society where various political tendencies exist side by side and competing influences cancel or limit one another can manage more or less to escape the kitsch inquisition: the individual can preserve his individuality; the artist can create unusual works. But whenever a single political movement corners power, we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch.

Missão, Tereza, é uma palavra idiota. Eu não tenho missão. Ninguém tem missão. E é um alÃ

For seven years he had lived bound to her,his every step subject to her scrutiny. She might as well have chained iron balls to his ankles. Suddenly his step was much lighter. He soared. He had entered Parmenides' magic field: he was enjoying the sweet lightness of being''.

Consciousness of being loved separates a woman from the herd

The moment she removed his head from the body, she felt the strange and intoxicating touch of freedom. That anonymity of the body was a suddenly discovered paradise. With an odd delight, she expelled her wounded and too vigilant soul and was transformed into a simple body without past or memory, but all the more eager and receptive. She tenderly caressed Eva's face, while the headless body moved vigorously on top of her.

And does not true freedom mean choosing ways in this world that lead to the good of all and are guided by love?

The love of freedom is actually an aberration.

The gospel frees us from demanding our own way, because nothing we desire to obtain is worth sinning against such love and kindness.

I call for effort, courage, sacrifice, devotion. Granting the love of freedom, all of these are possible. And the love of freedom is still fierce and steady in the nation today. June 10, 1940

To drive free, to love free, to court destruction with taunts. One brief house of madness and joy!

Freedom of belief is pernicious," Bellarmine wrote on another occasion. "It is nothing but the freedom to be wrong.