The aim of poetry, it appears, is to fill the mind with lofty thoughts--not to give it joy, but to give it a grand and somewhat gaudy sense of virtue. The essay is a weapon against the degenerate tendencies of the age. The novel, properly conceived, is a means of uplifting the spirit; its aim is to inspire, not merely to satisfy the low curiosity of man in man.

Evil is that which one believes of others.

Nothing can come out of an artist that is not in the man.

Genius: the ability to prolong one's childhood.

The fact that a human brain of high amperage, otherwise highly efficient, may have a hole in it is surely not a secret.

The only really respectable Protestants are the fundamentalists. Unfortunately, they are also palpable idiots.

People say we need religion when what they really mean is we need police.