Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man.

I think you’re beautiful, the only beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I love your voice and everything to do with you, down to your clothes or the room you are sitting in. I adore you.

A critic has no right to the narrowness which is the frequent prerogative of the creative artist.

I'm a holy man minus the holiness. Hand that on to your three spies, and tell them to put it in their pipes.

The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society was eternal.

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.

Sudden conversion ... is particularly attractive to the half-baked mind.