[T]he truth is that fullness of soul can sometimes overflow in utter vapidity of language, for none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.

On spinach: I dislike it, and am happy to dislike it because if I liked it I would eat it, and I cannot stand it.

As for the piano, the faster her fingers flew over it, the more he marveled. She struck the keys with aplomb and ran from one end of the keyboard to the other without a stop.

What an elder sees sitting; the young can't see standing.

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.

I have come to have the firm conviction that vanity is the basis of everything, and finally that what one calls conscience is only inner vanity.

You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful.