Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Balanchine ballets, et al. don’t redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history.

War is elective. It is not an inevitable state of affairs. War is not the weather.

I'm not sure at all that literature should be studied on the university level. ... Why should people study books? Isn't it rather silly to study Pride and Prejudice. Either you get it or you don't.

A good listener: a physical presence that is warm, alert, intelligent - more important than any words.

I urge you to be as impudent as you dare. BE BOLD, BE BOLD, BE BOLD.

The writers or artists I write about are not necessarily those I care most about (Shakespeare is still my favourite writer) but those whose work I feel has been neglected.

It is easier to endure than to change. But once one has changed, what was endured is hard to recall.