There is only one world the world pressing against you this minute.

Inevitably, the flood of literary pornography loosed on us is dulling our reactions of surprise or shock. Its writers are forced to raise the ante, to provide stronger and stronger stimulants. Or try to provide them, since both the manner, the naming of parts and the few inexpressive four-letter words, and the matter, are narrowly limited.

... the truth is exactly that which can't be got into words. We are forced to lie, a little or, if we are inferior, much.

Language is memory and metaphor.

Critics have been amusing themselves for a long time by auscultating fiction for signs of heart failure.

Mere human beings cant afford to be fanatical about anything. Not even about justice or loyalty. The fanatic for justice ends by murdering a million helpless people to clear a space for his law-courts. If we are to survive on this planet, there must be compromises.

All pornography is to a degree sadistic - inevitably.