The true men of action in our time those who transform the world are not the politicians and statesmen but the scientists. Unfortunately poetry cannot celebrate them because their deeds are concerned with things, not persons, and are therefore speechless. When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.

In the end, art is small beer. The really serious things are earning one's living so as not to be a parasite and loving one's neighbor.

To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself.

There's only one good test of pornography. Get twelve normal men to read the book, and then ask them, ''Did you get an erection?'' If the answer is ''Yes'' from a majority of the twelve, then the book is pornographic.

Precisely because we do not communicate by singing, a song can be out of place but not out of character; it is just as credible that a stupid person should sing beautifully as that a clever person should do so.

To save your world you asked this man to die; would this man, could he see you now, ask why?