The philosophical conservative is someone willing to pay the price of other people s suffering for his principles.

Uncharged with invisible meaning, the visible is nothing, mere clay; and without visible circumstance, a territory, to connect to, our spirit is shapeless, nameless, and undefined.

And so the ordinary unendurable torments we all experienced were indeed exceptional in the way they were absorbed in each heart.

My memories pale as I prevail upon them again and again. They become more and more ghostly. I fear nothing so much as losing them altogether and having only my blank endless mind to live in.

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.

We are able to walk on air, but only as long as our illusion supports us.

I worry about images. Images are what things mean.