Roberto Calasso's survey of the renewed interest in myth demonstrates how decisive the gods' influence was on modern literature. Calasso is not only immensely learned; he is one of the most original thinkers and writers we have today.

Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.

I slept little, read a lot, and fell in love frequently.

To submit to chance is to reveal the self and its obsessions.

There are people who live inside their heads and their intellects. It's something one is born with and stuck with. It's not something you make a decision about.

For Emily Dickinson every philosophical idea was a potential lover. Metaphysics is the realm of eternal seduction of the spirit by ideas.

The world is beautiful but not sayable. That's why we need art.