'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.

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

Perhaps our only sickness is to desire a truth which we cannot bear rather than to rest content with the fictions we manufacture out of each other.

Shyness has laws you can only give yourself; tragically to those who least understand.

The artist's work constitutes the only satisfactory relationship he can have with his fellow men since he seeks his real friends among the dead and the unborn.

They flower spontaneously out of the demands of our natures - and the best of them lead us not only outward in space, but inward as well.

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.