Shakespeare wrote great poetry and preposterous plays. Who really cares, for example, which petty tyrant rules Milan? Or who succeeds to the throne of Denmark? Or why the barons ganged up on Richard II?

Though men now possess the power to dominate and exploit every corner of the natural world, nothing in that fact implies that they have the right or the need to do so.

The world is full of burled and gnarly knobs on which you can hang a metaphysical system. If you must.

Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all.

Our big social institutions do not reflect human nature; they distort it.

All living things on earth are kindred.

The sneakiest form of literary subtlety, in a corrupt society, is to speak the plain truth. The critics will not understand you; the public will not believe you; your fellow writers will shake their heads. Laughter, praise, honors, money, and the love of beautiful girls will be your only reward.