Last forever!' Who hasn't prayed that prayer? You were lucky to get it in the first place. The present is a freely given canvas. That it is constantly being ripped apart and washed downstream goes without saying.

Our life seems cursed to be a wiggle merely, and a wandering without end.

Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensibl e earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, and holy, and fleet. There is nothing to be done about it, but ignore it, or see.

The dear, stupid body is as easily satisfied as a spaniel.

At night I read and write, and things I have never understood become clear; I reap the harvest of the rest of the year's planting

The universe that suckled us is a monster that does not care if we live or die--it does not care if it itself grinds to a halt. It is a beast running on chance and death, careening from nowhere to nowhere. It is fixed and blind, a robot programmed to kill. We are free and seeing; we can only try to outwit it at every turn to save our lives.

The more you read, the more you will write. The better the stuff you read, the better the stuff you will write.