Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

If I am not what you say I am, then you are not who you think you are.

The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.

Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time.

The writer's only real task: to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art

Even the most incorrigible maverick has to be born somewhere. He may leave the group that produced him-he may be forced to-but nothing will efface his origins, the marks of which he carries with him everywhere. I think it is important to know this and even find it a matter for rejoicing, as the strongest people do, regardless of their station. On this acceptance, literally, the life of a writer depends.

The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.