The first and most important thing of all, at least for writers today, is to strip language clean, to lay it bare down to the bone.

They were beaten to start with. They were beaten when they took them from their farms and put them in the army. That is why the peasant has wisdom, because he is defeated from the start. Put him in power and see how wise he is.

The educated man is the man who can do something. The quality of his work marks the degree of his education.

I suppose if a man has something once, always something of it remains.

When things are going well, I like to have people to share it with. I've been alone in troubled times, and I don't mind that. Some things have to be endured alone. As Hemingway said, the human being is strong in all the broken places.

Having books published is very destructive to writing. It is even worse than making love too much. Because when you make love too much at least you get a damned clarte that is like no other light. A very clear and hollow light.

But did thee feel the earth move?