Who but the artist has the power to open man up, to set free the imagination? The others - priest, teacher, saint, statesman, warrior - hold us to the path of history. They keep us chained to the rock, that the vultures may eat out our hearts. It is the artist who has the courage to go against the crowd; he is the unrecognized "hero of our time" - and of all time.

After all, most writing is done away from the typewriter, away from the desk. I'd say it occurs in the quiet, silent moments, while you're walking or shaving or playing a game, or whatever, or even talking to someone you're not vitally interested in.

Obscenity is a cleansing process, whereas pornography only adds to the murk.

We live in the mind, in ideas, in fragments. We no longer drink in the wild outer music of the streets - we remember only.

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

It was here in Big Sur that I first learned to say 'amen.'

I'd rather sit down and write a letter than call someone up. I hate the telephone.