The domination of nature leads to the domination of human nature.

My Aunt Ida at age eighty-three: 'Yeah,' she said, 'I'll be dead pretty soon. And frankly, I don't give a damn.'

Humans were free before the word freedom became necessary.

Why do I write? I write to entertain my friends and to exasperate our enemies. To unfold the folded lie, to record to truth of our time, and, of course, to promote esthetic bliss.

Why can't we simply borrow what is useful to us from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, especially Zen, as we borrow from Christianity, science, American Indian traditions and world literature in general, including philosophy, and let the rest go hang? Borrow what we need but rely principally upon our own senses, common sense and daily living experience.

In order to write a book, it is necessary to sit down (or stand up) and write. Therein lies the difficulty.

James Joyce buried himself in his great work. _Finnegan's Wake_ is his monument and his tombstone. A dead end.