An object, after all, is what makes infinity private.

As long as the state permits itself to interfere in the affairs of literature, literature has the right to interfere with the affairs of state.

I didn't want to be either the cre`me de la cre`me or a martyr. I'd rather be a novelty, especially in a democracy that doesn't understand the language I write in.

In the end, like the Almighty Himself, we make everything in our image, for want of a more reliable model; our artifacts tell more about ourselves than our confessions.

Were we to choose our leaders on the basis of their reading experience and not their political programs, there would be much less grief on earth. I believe ... that for someone who has read a lot of Dickens to shoot his like in the name of an idea is harder than for someone who has read no Dickens.

If one's fated to be born in Caesar's Empire, let him live aloof, provincial, by the seashore.

Who included me among the ranks of the human race?