In masks outrageous and austere The years go by in single file; But none has merited my fear, And none has quite escaped my smile.

I have never cared very deeply about the actual taste of my work. Let its essential odor satisfy my mind and senses, and I am content. I rarely judge by the grosser test of actual gustation ... in cooking, to create a masterpiece for the nose alone - that is exquisite, that is Art!

If any have a stone to throw It is not I, ever or now.

I am better able to imagine hell than heaven; it is my inheritance, I suppose.

In masks outrageous and austere The years go by in single file; But none has merited my fear, And none has quite escaped my smile.

An old earthen pipe like myself is dry and thirsty and so a most voracious drinker of life at its source; I'm no more to be split by the vital stream than if I were stone or steel.

I bear a little more than I can bear.