The heaviest impact of the work of art is in the guts. Art does not reason. It manhandles you and changes you.

Who invented the human heart, I wonder? Tell me, and then show me the place where he was hanged.

I don’t believe one reads to escape reality. A person reads to confirm a reality he knows is there, but which he has not experienced.

Art like life is an open secret.

Science is the poetry of the intellect and poetry the science of the heart's affections.

It's unthinkable not to love - you'd have a severe nervous breakdown. Or you'd have to be Philip Larkin.

It is not peace we seek but meaning.