The more abhorrent a news item the more comforting it was to be the recipient, since the fact that it had happened elsewhere proved that it had not happened here, was not happening here, and would therefore never happen here.

Because a star explodes and a thousand worlds like ours die, we know this world is. That is the smile: that what might not be, is.

I knew words were like chains, they held me back . . . the act of description taints the description.

There is only one good definition of God: the freedom that allows other freedoms to exist.

I hate the uneducated and the ignorant. I hate the pompous and the phoney. I hate the jealous and the resentful. I hate the crabbed and mean and the petty. I hate all ordinary dull little people who aren't ashamed of being dull and little.

In essence the Renaissance was simply the green end of one of civilization's hardest winters.

You must make, always. You must act, if you believe something. Talking about acting is like boasting about pictures you're going to paint. The most terrible bad form.