A stranger is shot in the street, you hardly move to help. But if, half an hour before, you spent just ten minutes with the fellow and knew a little about him and his family, you might just jump in front of his killer and try to stop it. Really knowing is good. Not knowing, or refusing to know is bad, or amoral, at least. You can’t act if you don’t know.

You can make yourself happy or miserable - it's the same amount of effort.

You will have to write and put away or burn a lot of material before you are comfortable in this medium. You might as well start now and get the work done. For I believe that eventually quantity will make for quality.

Melt all the guns, I thought, break the knives, burn the guillotines-and the malicious will still write letters that kill.

Do you ever read any of the books you burn?" He laughed. "That's against the law!" "Oh. Of course.

Man has always been half-monster, half-dreamer.

You should love literature. You should live in the library. Forget about films.