Computers will have to learn that when I quote from some old author who spelled differently from the machine, the wishes of the long-dead author will have to be respected, and the machine will have to mind its manners

Their very conservatism is secondhand, and they don't know what they are conserving.

These matters require what I think of as the Shakespearean cast of thought. That is to say, a fine credulity about everything, kept in check by a lively skepticism about everything.... It keeps you constantly alert to every possibility.

I do not 'get' ideas; ideas get me

The critic is the duenna in the passionate affair between playwrights, actors and audiences - a figure dreaded, and occasionally comic, but never welcome, never loved.

The quality of what is said inevitably influences the way in which it is said, however inexperienced the writer.

No one needs a word processor if he has an efficient secretary.