those who despair of life are not long for it.

Mistrust must be acted on, and effective action by the ruled is not solitary and singular, but joint and repeated.

I am not sure how many "sins" I would recognize in the world. Some would surely be defused by changed circumstances. But I can imagine none that is more irredeemably sinful than the betrayal, the exploitation, of the young by those who should care for them.

Poets are the leaven in the lump of civilization.

We put up with a lot to be saved from chaos. We always have.

We don't get offered crises, they arrive.

Great writers leave us not just their works, but a way of looking at things.