The stuff of which masterpieces are made drifts about the world waiting to be clothed in words.

[Whenever] you get near the human race, there's layers and layers of nonsense.

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.

The dead don't stay interested in us living people for very long. Gradually, gradually, they let go hold of the earth . . . and the ambitions they had . . . and the things they suffered . . . and the people they loved. They get weaned away from the earth - that's the way I put it - weaned away.

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.

The planting of trees is the least self-centered of all that we can do. It is a purer act of faith than the procreation of children.