Let us define 'man' as a poet perpetually conspiring against himself.

'We live' writes Pursewarden somewhere 'lives based upon selected fictions. Our view of reality is conditioned by our position in space and time — not by our personalities as we like to think. Thus every interpretation oа reality is based upon a unique position. Two paces east or west and the whole picture is changed.

It takes a lot of energy and a lot of neurosis to write a novel. If you were really sensible, you'd do something else.

Life, the raw material, is only lived in potentia until the artist deploys it in his work.

Every man is made of clay and diamond, and no woman can nourish both.

Like all young men I set out to be a genius, but mercifully laughter intervened.

A city becomes a world when one loves one of its inhabitants.