The essence of a class system is not that the privileged are conscious of their privileges, but that the deprived are conscious of their deprivations.

You can never get a woman to sit down and listen to a drum solo.

All honest labor becomes easy; it only becomes hard when done with unwillingness.

Little books are the things to write at my age, I've decided. Avoid the big ones, go for the little ones.

If we want a book to do more than what it does, that's a condemnation. If we want it to do more of what it does, that's an endorsement.

People should be stopped from writing poetry. There's far too much of it. And if they're any good, they'll go ahead anyways.

I was brought up on the proletarian left, and I remain there. The fair go for workers is fundamental, and I don't believe the free market has a mind.