Words were like objects, making the idea more solid -- less a poisonous gas and more a ... cube of crystallized thought.

As for the depiction of the Catholic church, it's not meant to be a prediction

Merely to live without a pain Is little gladness, little gain, Ah, welcome joy tho' mixt with grief-- The thorn-set flower that crowns the leaf.

The life of a poet lies not merely in the finite language-dance of expression but in the nearly infinite combinations of perception and memory combined with the sensitivity to what is perceived and remembered.

It no longer matters who consider themselves the masters of events. Events no longer obey their masters.

Any allegiance to a deity or concept or universal principal which put obedience above decent behavior toward an innocent human being evil.

Once evolution gets a good basic design, it tends to throw away the variants and concentrate on the near-infinite diversity within that design.