The fact that there are so many weak, poor and boring stories and novels written and published in America has been ascribed by our rebels to the horrible squareness of our institutions, the idiocy of power, the debasement of sexual instincts, and the failure of writers to be alienated enough. The poems and novels of these same rebellious spirits, and their theoretical statements, are grimy and gritty and very boring too, besides being nonsensical, and it is evident by now that polymorphous sexuality and vehement declarations of alienation are not going to produce great works of art either.

But there are things you can't consult anybody about.

I think that New York is not the cultural centre of America, but the business and administrative centre of American culture.

... a fellow can't predict what he will pick up in the form of influence.

The writer cannot make the seas of distraction stand still, but he [or she] can at times come between the madly distracted and the distractions.

And what about all the good I have in my heart - does it mean anything?

It's goodbye to reality when love sets in.