The artist's job? To be a miracle worker: make the blind see, the dull feel, the dead to live.

The great question of life is not the question of death but the question of life. Fear of death shames us all.

For this world that men have made, none of us is bad enough. For the world that made us, none is good enough.

I always wanted to be a cowboy. But alas! I was burdened early with certain inescapable obligations to world literature.

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.

Nature is indifferent to our love, but never unfaithful.

Democracy -- rule by the people -- sounds like a fine thing; we should try it sometime in America.