But strictly held by none, is loosely bound By countless silken ties of love and thought To everything on earth the compass round, And only by one's going slightly taut In the capriciousness of summer air Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

At bottom the world isn't a joke. We only joke about it to avoid an issue with someone, to let someone know that we know he's there with his questions; to disarm him by seeming to have heard and done justice to his side of the standing argument.

Friends make pretence of following to the grave but before one is in it, their minds are turned and making the best of their way back to life and living people and things they understand.

I am a writer of books in retrospect. I talk in order to understand; I teach in order to learn.

What makes a nation in the beginning is a good piece of geography.

A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity.

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, and I'll forgive Thy great big joke on me.