If tragedy is an experience of hyperinvolvement, comedy is an experience of underinvolvement, of detachment.

I make an idol of my moral consciousness. My pursuit of the good is corrupted by the sin of idolatry.

Much of modern art is devoted to lowering the threshold of what is terrible. By getting us used to what, formerly, we could not bear to see or hear, because it was too shocking, painful, or embarrassing, art changes morals.

The photograph is like a quotation, or a maxim or proverb. Each of us mentally stocks hundreds of photographs, subject to instant recall.

AIDS obliges people to think of sex as having, possibly, the direst consequences: suicide. Or murder.

The best emotions to write out of are anger and fear or dread. The least energizing emotion to write out of is admiration. It is very difficult to write out of because the basic feeling that goes with admiration is a passive contemplative mood.

What makes me feel strong? Being in love and work. I must work.