There is an art in taking the whiplash of suffering full in the face, an art you must learn. Let each single attack exhaust itself; pain always makes single attacks, so that its bite may be more intense, more concentrated. And you, while its fangs are implanted and injecting their venom at one spot, do not forget to offer it another place where it can bite you, and so relieve the pain of the first.

Literature is a defense against the attacks of life. It says to life: You can't deceive me. I know your habits, foresee and enjoy watching all your reactions, and steal your secret by involving you in cunning obstructions that halt your normal flow.

Give me the ready hand rather than the ready tongue.

Will power is only the tensile strength of one's own disposition. One cannot increase it by a single ounce.

The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.

When writing poetry, it is not that produces a bright idea, but the bright idea that kindles the fire of.

The search for a new personality is futile; what is fruitful is the interest the old personality can take in new activities.