To the Technocrats: Have mercy on us. Relax a bit, take time out for simple pleasures. For example, the luxuries of electricity, indoor plumbing, central heating, instant electronic communication and such, have taught me to relearn and enjoy the basic human satisfactions of dipping water from a cold clear mountain stream; of building a wood fire in a cast-iron stove; of using long winter nights for making music, making things, making love; of writing long letters, in longhand with a fountain pen, to the few people on this earth I truly care about.

A cowboy is a farm boy in leather britches and a comical hat.

Tee Vee football: one team wins, one team loses -- they tie -- who cares? And why?

There has never been an 'original' sin: each is quite banal.

Every man should be his own guru; every woman her own gurette.

If there's anyone still present whom I've failed to insult . . . I apologize.

A good book is a kind of paper club, serving to rouse the slumbrous and to silence the obtuse.