The greater the power of any subjective state, the more total is a Romantic's assumption that everyone understands exactly what he is about to do, therefore waste not a moment by stopping to tell them.

A nation fights well in proportion to the amount of men and materials it has. And the other equation is that the individual soldier in that army is a more effective soldier the poorer his standard of living has been in the past.

The writer can grow as a person or he can shrink. ... His curiosity, his reaction to life must not diminish. The fatal thing is to shrink, to be interested in less, sympathetic to less, desiccating to the point where life itself loses its flavor, and one’s passion for human understanding changes to weariness and distaste.

The fact that we've been a great democracy doesn't mean we will automatically keep being one if we keep waving the flag.

I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension.

You're gambling with something vital. Most writers get smashed egos.

You never do find out what makes you tick, and after a while it's unimportant.