You think your pains and heartbreaks are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. [and then you discover that others have suffered much more than you and your problems look good in comparison]

Allegiance, after all, has to work two ways; and one can grow weary of an allegiance which is not reciprocal.

Precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience you must find yourself at war with your society.

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.

My friend was about to introduce me when she looked at me and smiled and said, "Whose little boy are you?"

All art is a kind of confession.

I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. I think all theories are suspect, that the finest principles may have to be modified, or may even be pulverized by the demands of life, and that one must find, therefore, one's own moral center and move through the world hoping that this center will guide one aright.