Yes, I learned long ago that the only satisfaction of authorship lies in finding the very few who understand what we mean. As for outside rewards, there is not one that I have ever discovered.

O God, let me write books! Please, God, let me write books!

No, one couldn't make a revolution, one couldn't even start a riot, with sheep that asked only for better browsing.

I hated the things they believe in, the things they so innocently and charmingly pretended. I hated the sanctimonious piety that let people hurt helpless creatures. I hated the prayers and the hymns - the fountains and the red images that coloured their drab music, the fountains filled with blood, the sacrifice of the lamb.

I waited and worked, and watched the inferior exalted for nearly thirty years; and when recognition came at last, it was too late to alter events, or to make a difference in living.

Cynicism is a sure sign of youth.

To mourn was distressing, but to endeavor to mourn and fail was worse than distress.