Innocence of heart and violence of feeling are necessary in any kind of superior achievement: The arts cannot exist without them.

It is not possible, for a poet, writing in any language, to protect himself from the tragic elements in human life.... [ellipsis in source] Illness, old age, and death--subjects as ancient as humanity--these are the subjects that the poet must speak of very nearly from the first moment that he begins to speak.

Stupidity always accompanies evil. Or evil, stupidity.

But childhood prolonged, cannot remain a fairyland. It becomes a hell.

Hate does not present many choices; if hate is your solution, you are fairly certain to hate all phemonena with equal joy and intensity, without troubling to drag into prominence any one feature from the loathsome whole.

What we suffer, what we endure, what we muff, what we kill, what we miss, what we are guilty of, is done by us, as individuals, in private.

No more pronouncements on lousy verse. No more hidden competition. No more struggling not to be a square.