The author's conviction on this day of New Year is that music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music; but this must not be taken as implying that all good music is dance music or all poetry lyric. Bach and Mozart are never too far from physical movement.

The only history that matters is the history we know.

The artist is always beginning.

When words cease to cling close to things, kingdoms fall, empires wane and diminish.

Poetry must be as well written as prose.

America, my country, is almost a continent and hardly yet a nation.

Religion I have defined as "Another of those numerous failures resulting from an attempt to popularize art".