We make a mistake to condescend to the past as if it were preparatory to our own time.

Every major work of art is a transgression, but the artist is not necessarily, by nature, a transgressor.

Poems have ideas. The ideas of poems come out of their emotions and their emotions are carried on images.

The Shadow had no imagination. He neither looked at naked women nor thought of ridding the world of dictators like Hitler or Mussolini.

Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing - none of that is writing. Writing is writing. Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

And though the newspapers called the shooting the Crime of the Century, Goldman knew it was only 1906 and there were ninety-four years to go.

The three most important documents a free society gives are a birth certificate, a passport, and a library card.