To begin with, let us take the following motto...Literature is Love. Now we can continue.

There is an old American saying 'He who lives in a glass house should not try to kill two birds with one stone.

If possible, be Russian. And live in another country. Play chess. Be an active trader between languages. Carry precious metals from one to the other. Remind us of Stravinsky. Know the names of plants and flying creatures. Hunt gauzy wings with snares of gauze. Make science pay tribute. Have a butterfly known by your name.

Curiously enough, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative reader is a rereader.

Oh, let me be mawkish for the nonce! I am so tired of being cynical.

Our imagination flies -- we are its shadow on the earth.

Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.