A touch of science, even bogus science, gives an edge to the superstitious tale.
The mark of genius is an incessant activity of mind. Genius is a spiritual greed.
Life — how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere.
Those mausoleums of inactive masculinity are places for men who prefer armchairs to women.
All writers - all people - have their stores of private and family legends which lie like a collection of half-forgotten, often violent toys on the floor of memory.
The businessman who is a novelist is able to drop in on literature and feel no suicidal loss of esteem if the lady is not at home, and he can spend his life preparing without fuss for the awful interview.