anybody who drinks seriously is poor: so poor, poor, extra poor, me.

England, where nobody ever says what they mean: and by denying feeling, kill it off stone-cold at the roots.

There is nothing harder for an Artist than to retain his Artistic integrity in the tomb of success. A tomb, nevertheless, which nearly every Artist: whether he admits it or not; naturally wants to get into.

So it is useless to evade reality, because it only makes it more virulent in the end. But instead, look steadfastly into the slit, pin-pointed, malignant eyes of reality: as an old-hand trainer dominates his wild beasts. Take it by the scruff of the neck, and shake the evil intent out of it; till it rattles out harmlessly, like gall bladder stones, fossilized on the floor.

There is a great gulf between the really creative person and normal people. The totally creative person does not have the rest of his life in proper proportion.

there is no gaiety as gay as the gaiety of grief.

I don't trust sentimentality in men; it goes with tyranny; you can't have one without the other.