The wild begins where you least expect it, one step off your normal course

Children were strangers you loved because you could love. If they gave back love when they were grown you were ahead of the game.

Prufrock had measured out his life with measuring spoons; Dubin, in books resurrecting the lives of others.

When I don't feel hurt, I hope they bury me.

A man is an island in the only sense that matters, not an easy way to be. We live in mystery, a cosmos of separate lonely bodies, men, insects, stars. It is all loneliness and men know it best.

To any writer: Teach yourself to work in uncertainty. Many writers are anxious when they begin, or try something new. Even Matisse painted some of his Fauvist pictures in anxiety. Maybe that helped him to simplify. Character, discipline, negative capability count. Write, complete, revise. If it doesn't work, begin something else.

The great thing about writing: Stay with it ... ultimately you teach yourself something very important about yourself.