My understanding of the meaning of a book is that the book itself disappears from sight, that it is chewed alive, digested and incorporated into the system as flesh and blood which in turn creates new spirit and reshapes the world.

The ordinary man is involved in action, the hero acts. An immense difference.

Whatever there be of progress in life comes not through adaptation but through daring.

I didn't have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let's say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!

I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it.

You can travel fifty thousand miles in America without once tasting a piece of good bread.

He is trying to recapture his innocence, yet all he succeeds in doing (by writing) is to inoculate the world with a virus of his disillusionment.