Style and Structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash.

A change of environment is the traditional fallacy upon which doomed loves, and lungs, rely.

Don't touch me; I'll die if you touch me.

There he stood, in the camouflage of sun and shade, disfigured by them and masked by his own nakedness.

No writer in a free country should be expected to bother about the exact demarcation between the sensuous and the sensual; this is preposterous; I can only admire but cannot emulate the accuracy of judgment of those who pose the fair young mammals photographed in magazines where the general neckline is just low enough to provoke a past master's chuckle and just high enough not to make a postmaster frown.

But in my arms she was always Lolita.

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.