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]

Societies never know it, but the war of an artist with his society is a lover's war, and he does, at his best, what lovers do, which is to reveal the beloved to himself and, with that revelation, to make freedom real.

I think Americans are terrified of feeling anything. I never met a people more infantile in my life.

If all you want to do is make money, the very last thing you need is imagination.

A writer has to take all the risks of putting down what he sees. No one can tell him about that. No one can control that reality. It reminds me of something Pablo Picasso was supposed to have said to Gertrude Stein while he was painting her portrait. Gertrude said, “I don’t look like that.” And Picasso replied, “You will.” And he was right.

People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.

There is a 'sanctity' involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it.