I think that one is constantly startled by the things that appear before you on the page when you're writing.

I think that one is constantly startled by the things that appear before you on the page when you're writing.

What you fear most will happen to you - that is the law.

Perhaps if we lived with less physical beauty we would develop our true natures more.

Children seldom have a proper sense of their own tragedy, discounting and keeping hidden the true horrors of their short lives, humbly imagining real calamity to be some prestigious drama of the grown-up world.

I never had, or wished for, power over you. That isn't true, of course. I wanted the greatest power of all. but not advantage, or authority.

Americans' great and secret fear is that America may turn out to be a phenomenon rather than a civilization.