Life's accumulation is more discouraging than life itself, when stirred up.

"Have you ever found anything that gives you relief?" "Yes. A drink."

Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down.

When I get sick of what men do, I have only to walk a few steps in another direction to see what spiders do. Or what the weather does. This sustains me very well indeed.

There is a period near the beginning of every man's life when he has little to cling to except his unmanageable dream, little to support him except good health, and nowhere to go but all over the place.

Writing is hard work and bad for the health.

A despot doesn't fear eloquent writers preaching freedom- he fears a drunken poet who may crack a joke that will take hold.