"... Then it was that the great earthquake occurred, the terrible revolution which suddenly forced upon me a new and infallible law of interpretation of all the facts." (Chapter 1, The Journals, 11)

"Either/or is the word at which the folding doors fly open and the ideals appear—O blessed sight! Either/or is the pass which admits to the absolute—God be praised! Yea, either/or is the key to heaven. ... Both—and is the way to hell." (Chapter 2, Either/Or, 19)

"If an Arab in the desert were suddenly to discover a spring in his tent, and so would always be able to have water in abundance, how fortunate he would consider himself—so too, when a man who qua physical being is always turned towards the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within...