Whether you think of it as heavenly or as earthly, if you love life immortality is no consolation for death.

They [Americans] want to believe that Good and Evil can be defined in precise categories, that Good is already, or will be easily achieved. ... if this optimism appears too superficial, they will try to create a kind of anti-God: the U.S.S.R. That is Evil, and it only needs to be annihilated to re-establish the reign of Good.

Choice springs from the totality of the person. Thus, to study, to analyze what a person is, does not eliminate the idea of freedom.

This has always been a man's world, and none of the reasons that have been offered in explanation have seemed adequate.

--There you are. The sight of the changing world is miraculous and heartbreaking, both at the same time. --But so it is for me too. The heartbreaking side of growing old is not in the things around one but in oneself.

It's not a very big step from contentment to complacency.

Writing ... is a profession that can only be learned by writing.