Does a poet create, originate, initiate the thing called a poem, or is his behavior merely the product of his genetic and environmental histories?

Men build society and society builds men.

Death does not trouble me. I have no fear of supernatural punishments, of course, nor could I enjoy an eternal life in which there would be nothing left for me to do, the task of living having been accomplished.

The alphabet was a great invention, which enabled men to store and to learn with little effort what others had learned the hard way-that is, to learn from books rather than from direct, possibly painful, contact with the real world.

The evolution of cultures appears to follow the pattern of the evolution of species. The many different forms of culture which arise correspond to the "mutations" of genetic theory. Some forms prove to be effective under prevailing circumstances and others not, and the perpetuation of the culture is determined accordingly.

Those who have had anything useful to say have said it far too often, and those who have had nothing to say have been no more reticent.

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.