Writing is not primarily escape, but use.

The artist is present in every page of every book from which he sought so assiduously to eliminate himself.

I don't care about anything but you, and that's enough for the present. I want you to be happy--not to think of anything sad; only to feel that I'm near you and I love you. Why should there be pain? In such hours as this what have we to do with pain? That's not the deepest thing; there's something deeper.

I take up my own pen again - the pen of all my old unforgettable efforts and sacred struggles. To myself - today - I need say no more. Large and full and high the future still opens. It is now indeed that I may do the work of my life. And I will.

Don’t underestimate the value of irony—it is extremely valuable.

I recall my fleeting instants in Savannah as the taste of a cup charged to the brim.

It takes an endless amount of history to make even a little tradition.