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

Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge.

We do need knowledge. And perhaps in a thousand years we might pick smaller cliffs to jump off. The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are.

Do three things each night before you go to bed: read a poem, read a short story, read an essay.

The ability to fantasize is the ability to survive, and the ability to fantasize is the ability to grow

If you're living in your time, you cannot help but to write about the things that are important.

And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is gift and a privilege, not a right. We must earn life once it has been awarded us. Life asks for rewards back because it has favored us with animation. So while our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or death, it can revitalize us amidst it all.