The moral duty of the free writer is to begin his work at home: to be a critic of his own community, his own country, his own government, his own culture. The more freedom the writer possesses, the greater the moral obligation to play the role of critic.

Those who dream of the joys of living in a space colony should live in a space colony.

Our suicidal poets (Plath, Berryman, Lowell, Jarrell, et al.) spent too much of their lives inside rooms and classrooms when they should have been trudging up mountains, slogging through swamps, rowing down rivers. The indoor life is the next best thing to premature burial.

The artist in our time has two chief responsibilities: (1) art; and (2) sedition.

Ah yes, the head is full of books. The hard part is to force them down through the bloodstream and out through the fingers.

It is always dishonest for a reviewer to review the author instead of the author's book.

The rich can buy everything but health, virtue, friendship, wit, good looks, love, pride, intelligence, grace, and, if you need it, happiness.