If a nation's literature declines, the nation atrophies and decays.

The book shd. be a ball of light in one's hand.

Use no superfluous word, no adjective, which does not reveal something. Don't use such an expression as 'dim land of peace.' It dulls the image. It mixes an abstraction with the concrete. It comes from the writer's not realizing that the natural object is always the adequate symbol. Go in fear of abstraction.

I have tried to write Paradise Do not move Let the wind speak that is paradise. Let the Gods forgive what I have made Let those I love try to forgive what I have made.

Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear.

There is natural ignorance and there is artificial ignorance. I should say at the present moment the artificial ignorance is about eighty-five per cent.

I think an alliance with Stalin's Russia is rotten.