The highest type of intelligence, says Aristotle, manifests itself in an ability to see connections where no one has seen them before, that is, to think analogically.

Pain is truth; all else is subject to doubt.

A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us.

I said to myself, 'If you don't sit down to it today, when will you ever sit down to it?'

The mode of consciousness of nonhuman species is quite different from human consciousness.

Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for?

The idea of writer as sage is pretty much dead today. I would certainly feel very uncomfortable in the role.