Men seem to be born with a debt they can never pay no matter how hard they try.

Poetry is the mathematics of writing and closely kin to music.

A good writer always works at the impossible.There is another kind who pulls in his horizons, drops his mind as one lowers rifle sights.

It was too nerve-wracking, a shocking spectacle, like seeing an old, calm friend go insane.

In business and in politics a man must carve and maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there, he can be great and kind-but he must get there first.

One can find so many pains when the rain is falling.

Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires. Present-day kings aren't very inspiring, the gods are on a vacation and about the only heroes left are the scientists and the poor.