A great many quite good plays could be performed with rhythmic howls in the place of dialogue and lose almost nothing by the change.

But there are other things than dissipation that thicken the features. Tears, for example.

A bad short story or novel or poem leaves one comparatively calm because it does not exist, unless it gets a fake prestige throughbeing mistaken for good work. It is essentially negative, it is something that has not come through. But over bad criticism one has a sense of real calamity.

one of Mr. [Thomas] Hardy's ancestors must have married a weeping willow. There are pages and pages in his collected poems which are simply plain narratives in ballad form of how an unenjoyable time was had by all.

Christianity must be regarded not as a final revelation but as a phase of revelation.

A good cause has to be careful of the company it keeps.

Did St. Francis preach to the birds? Whatever for? If he really liked birds he would have done better to preach to the cats.