Proust again: One can only wish that a man with such powers of total recall had led a less tedious life, moved among somewhat livelier circles.

Our job is to record, each in his own way, this world of light and shadow and time that will never come again exactly as it is today.

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.

Writing on the wall: Will trade three blind crabs for two with no teeth.

Of course I litter the public highway. Every chance I get. After all, it's not the beer cans that are ugly; it's the highway that is ugly.

We live in the kind of world where courage is the most essential of virtues; without courage, the other virtues are useless.

Henry James was our master of periphrasis -- the fine art of saying as little as possible in the greatest number of words.