I wrote a novel because I had a yen to do it. I believe this is sufficient reason to set out to tell a story.

Well, Diotallevi and I are planning a reform in higher education. A School of Comparative Irrelevance, where useless or impossibe courses are given. The school's aim is to turn out scholars capable of endlessly increasing the number of unnecessary subjects.

The author may not interpret. But he must tell why and how he wrote his book.

Mystical additions and subtractions always come out the way you want.

You’ll come back To me . . . It’s written in the stars, you see, you’ll come back. You’ll come back, it’s a fact that I am strong because I do believe in you.

Sometimes you say things with a smile with the precise intention of making it clear that you are not being serious, and are only kidding. If I salute a friend with a smile and say, "How are you, you old scoundrel!" clearly I don't really mean he's a scoundrel.

All poets write bad poetry. Bad poets publish them, good poets burn them.