But poetry is not to be lived, except for the few to whom it is more important than self-preservation.

It's the thought that counts.

[On Ian Fleming:] The trouble with Ian is that he gets off with women because he can't get on with them.

One should always act from one's inner sense of rhythm.

anything that becomes a cult, or a mass movement, loses its moral and spiritual value. The crusade has to be personal, individual. As soon as it becomes collective it loses its purpose.

Advice to Young Journal Keepers. Be lenient with yourself. Conceal your worst faults, leave out your most shameful thoughts, actions, and temptations. Give yourself all the good and interesting qualities you want and haven't got. If you should die young, what comfort would it be to your relatives to read the truth and have to say: It is not a pearl we have lost, but a swine?

Holidays, if you enjoy them, have no history.