Houses of evil similarity appeared like rows of disciplined, humiliated orphans.

It is June. This is what I have decided to do with my life just now. I will do this work and lead this life, the one I am leading today. Each morning the blue clock and the crocheted bedspread, the table with the Phone, the books and magazines, the Times at the door.

Flattery is a challenge. The proper turning away from it, undercutting, diminishing it without offense or vehemence, is a social grace sweeter even than the swift determination to keep ahead in the race of hospitality.

Making a living is nothing; the great difficulty is making a point, making a difference-with words.

Sometimes one has the feeling of an almost supernatural character to the shifts and changes in our national mood. They appear beyond the prose of cause and effect.

Art is a profession, not a shrine.

[On sociability in Italy:] You may be a hermit or an innkeeper.