jazz is the expression of America's romantic self, its sensual potency, its lyrical force.

Keeping a Diary all my life helped me to discover some basic elements essential to the vitality of writing.

You are so terribly nimble, so clever. I distrust your cleverness. You make a wonderful pattern, everything is in its place, it looks convincingly clear, too clear. And meanwhile, where are you? Not on the clear surface of your ideas, but you have already sunk deeper, into darker regions, so that one only thinks one has been given all your thoughts, one only imagines you have emptied yourself in that clarity. But there are layers and layers - you're bottomless, unfathomable. Your clearness is deceptive. You are the thinker who arouses most confusion in me, most doubt, most disturbance.

All the art of analysis consists in saying a truth only when the other person is ready for it, has been prepared for it by an organic process of gradation and evolution.

You have a right to experiment with your life. You will make mistakes. And they are right too.

Violence is a symptom of impotence.

The unconscious can become destructive if it is disregarded and thwarted.