How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?

Generosity is a two-edged virtue for an artist - it nourishes his imagination but has a fatal effect on his routine.

Woe to that nation whose literature is disturbed by the intervention of power. Because that is not just a violation against "freedom of print," it is the closing down of the heart of the nation, a slashing to pieces of its memory.

One can build the Empire State Building, discipline the Prussian army, make a state hierarchy mightier than God, yet fail to overcome the unaccountable superiority of certain human beings.

Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words…By means of art were are sometimes sent - dimly, briefly - revelations unattainable by reason.

For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.

Only an extraordinary person can turn opportunity into reality.