But whereas a puppy will cringe away or roll on its back, groveling, a little boy may cover his shyness with nonchalance, with bravado, or with secrecy. And once a boy has suffered rejection, he will find rejection even where it does not exist-or, worse, will draw it forth from people simply by expecting it.

If you're in trouble, or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones.

How can the poem and the stink and the grating noise - the quality of light, the tone, the habit and the dream - be set down alive?

I should have known I am the rain. I am the land and I am the rain. The grass will grow out of me in a little while.

But whereas a puppy will cringe away or roll on its back, groveling, a little boy may cover his shyness with nonchalance, with bravado, or with secrecy. And once a boy has suffered rejection, he will find rejection even where it does not exist-or, worse, will draw it forth from people simply by expecting it.

These words dropped into my childish mind as if you should accidentally drop a ring into a deep well. I did not think of them much at the time, but there came a day in my life when the ring was fished up out of the well, good as new.

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.