Suits obviously had helped to promote bad government and he was as guilty as anyone for wearing them so steadfastly for twenty years. Of late he had become frightened of the government for the first time in his life, the way the structure of democracy had begun debasing people rather than enlivening them in their mutual concern. The structure was no longer concerned with the purpose for which it was designed, and a small part of the cause, Nordstrom thought, was probably that all politicians and bureaucrats wore suits.

I have closely noted that people who watch a great deal of TV never again seem able to adjust to the actual pace of life. The speed of the passing images becomes the speed the aspire to and they seem to develop an impatience and boredom with anything else.

I can write anywhere.

I got $30 from Nation magazine for a poem and $500 for my first book of poems.

All artists as a type seem to suffer a great deal, but then so do miners.

Because most writers have totally unrealistic concepts of how publishing works.

That's my only defense against this world: to build a sentence out of it.