One evening I sat Beauty on my knees – And I found her bitter – And I reviled her.

O seasons, O castles, What soul is without flaws? All its lore is known to me, Felicity, it enchants us all.

I found I could extinguish all human hope from my soul.

I am alone in possessing a key to this barbarous sideshow.

I could never throw Love out of the window.

Only divine love bestows the keys of knowledge.

For a long time I found the celebrities of modern painting and poetry ridiculous. I loved absurd pictures, fanlights, stage scenery, mountebanks backcloths, inn-signs, cheap colored prints; unfashionable literature, church Latin, pornographic books badly spelt, grandmothers novels, fairy stories, little books for children, old operas, empty refrains, simple rhythms.