The writer writes in order to teach himself, to understand himself, to satisfy himself; the publishing of his ideas, though it brings gratification, is a curious anticlimax.

To have a sense of history one must consider oneself a piece of history.

When a writer talks about his work, he's talking about a love affair.

Altogether beautiful in the power of its feeling. As beautiful as anything in Thoreau or Hemingway.

History has become more important than ever because of the to unprecedented ability of the historical sciences to take in man's life on earth as a whole.

I had to admit that in his old-fashioned way O'Hara was still romantic about sex; like Scott Fitzgerald, he thought of it as an upper-class prerogative.

I liked reading and working out my ideas in the midst of that endless crowd walking in and out of the (library) looking for something. I, too, was seeking fame and fortune by sitting at the end of a long golden table next to the sets of American authors on the open shelves.