I do not write for a select minority, which means nothing to me, nor for that adulated platonic entity known as ‘The Masses’. Both abstractions, so dear to the demagogue, I disbelieve in. I write for myself and for my friends, and I write to ease the passing of time.

To arrange a library is to practice in a quiet and modest way the art of criticism.

Sometimes, looking at the many books I have at home, I feel I shall die before I come to the end of them, yet I cannot resist the temptation of buying new books. Whenever I walk into a bookstore and find a book on one of my hobbies — for example, Old English or Old Norse poetry — I say to myself, “What a pity I can’t buy that book, for I already have a copy at home.

We are as ignorant of the meaning of the dragon as we are of the meaning of the universe.

In general, every country has the language it deserves.

Writing is only a guided dream.

Poetry springs from something deeper; it's beyond intelligence.