Tell me how much a nation knows about its own language, and I will tell you how much that nation knows about its own identity.

It is easy enough to praise men for the courage of their conviction. I wish I could teach the sad young of this mealy generation the courage of their convictions.

Conviction is possible only in a world more primitive than ours can be perceived to be. A man can achieve a simply gnomic conviction only by ignoring the radical describers of his environment, or by hating them, as convinced men have hated, say, Darwin and Freud, as agents of some devil.

The reader deserves an honest opinion. If he doesn't deserve it, give it to him anyhow.

Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.

Spontaneous is what you get after the seventeenth draft.

Let our love be like an arch- two weaknesses leaning together to form one strength.